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“right here, jack ! 


PUT IT over!” 


[Page 170] 



/ 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


BY 

RALPH HENRY BARBOUR 

*» 

AUTHOR OF “FOURTH DOWN,” “THE LOST DIRIGIBLE,” 
“GUARDING HIS GOAL," “UNDER THE 
YANKEE ENSIGN,” ETC. 


6 b „ 

7 st <i 



FRONTISPIECE 


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK LONDON 

1921 




COPYRIGHT 1921. BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEE PAGE 

I. A New Boy Arrives i 

II. Tom Resumes a Responsibility n 

III. Jerry Upsets His Tea 23 

IV. The Hazing 37 

V. Jerry Spends Some Money 49 

VI. The Try-Out . . . , „ 59 

VII. At the Batting Net 72 

VIII. Jerry Hires Out . 82 

IX. The Major Gives Advice . . 98 

X. The Deserted Mine 111 

XI. Into the Depths 121 

XII. “Keep Your Chin Up l” 129 

XIII. Enemies Shake Hands 145 

XIV. Jerry Goes Along 158 

XV. In the Ninth Inning 169 

XVI. The Great Discovery 184 

XVII. The Cabin in the Woods 195 

XVIII. Jerry Issues Invitations 206 

XIX. Jerry Gives a Party 220 

XX. The School Gives Support 232 

XXI. “Three-Base Benson” 243 

XXII. A Victory and a Defeat 255 

XXIII. Coach Keegan Converses 2 66 

XXIV. Jerry Loses His Title 277 








THREE-BASE BENSON 


CHAPTER I 
A NEW BOY ARRIVES 

A BOY of sixteen, dark-eyed, fairly tall and of 
medium weight, set a very new-looking kit- 
bag on the floor in front of the news stand in 
the Baltimore station, shifted an overcoat to his left 
arm and selected a magazine. In the act of drawing 
a folding purse from a pocket his attention was at- 
tracted by a second youth who ranged alongside. The 
latter appeared of about his own age, but there all 
similarity ended. The newcomer was tall and angular 
and looked overgrown. He had a sallow face, with 
high cheek bones, pale blue eyes, under lashes and 
brows that were almost white, and a wide mouth. 
Underneath a snuff-colored felt hat with a low crown 
and a narrow, straight brim, his hair, which was a 
shade or two darker than his eyelashes, had recently 
been clipped close. Although evidently dressed in his 
best, his attire looked strange even in a place where 
strange attires are no novelty. Perhaps his clothes 

i 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


had been made for a much larger person. In any case, 
they fell in loose folds from every part of his spare 
frame, almost covering his knuckles and wrinkling 
ridiculously above his shoes. In hue they were very 
like his hair, and they seemed made of some material 
in which cotton and wool combined, with the odds in 
favor of the cotton. r A bluish gingham shirt was in 
evidence below a turned-down collar and a black bow 
tie, which, the first lad suspected, was attached to his 
collar-button by an elastic. (Like his neighbor, he car- 
ried his overcoat over one arm and had set a new 
bag on the floor beside him. But the bag was an old- 
fashioned valise, aggressively yellow and palpably of 
imitation leather, and the coat was a khaki-colored 
army overcoat. 

“ Got any chewing gum, stranger? ” 

The man behind the counter offered a choice of many 
brands and the boy fished a handful of loose change 
from a capacious trousers’ pocket, purchased, smiled in 
a neighborly fashion at the lad beside him, showing a 
set of fine white teeth, and, taking up his bag, ambled 
off. Tom Hartley and the news stand man exchanged 
amused smiles, the latter shaking his head humorously. 

“ Right down from the mountains, I reckon,” he 
said. He himself pronounced the word “ daown,” and 
Tom, fresh from a fortnight above Mason and Dixon’s 


2 


A NEW BOY ARRIVES 


Line, smiled again, this time to himself. Then, adding 
the magazine he had bought to his burdens, he made 
his way through the near-by gate and along the plat- 
form to the waiting “ train.” On that electric line 
they always called it a train, whether it consisted of 
one car or two. The afternoon travel out of the city 
had not set in and the two o’clock " Limited ” — an- 
other word that always aroused Tom’s amusement — 
held but a handful of persons. He set his bag on a 
seat, draped his coat over it and went back to the small 
baggage compartment at the rear to see if his trunk 
was aboard. Of course it wasn’t. One’s trunk was 
never known to get on the same train that one traveled 
by, and had Tom seen it there he would possibly have 
fallen in a dead faint. 

There were, Tom noticed on his way back, several 
of his school companions present, and to all but one 
he nodded and spoke. None was a sufficiently close ac- 
quaintance to demand more than a brief “ Hello.” 
The single exception was a boy of eighteen, a big, good- 
looking fellow who, noting Tom’s arrival, turned his 
face toward a window with a sneering, contemptuous 
expression. To him Tom neither spoke nor nodded. 
He and Wayne Sortwell were acknowledged enemies, 
although neither could have offered a sufficient expla- 
nation for the fact. Meeting each other in the very 
3 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


middle of the Sahara Desert, with no one else present, 
they might have nodded scowlingly, but on ordinary 
occasions they sedulously avoided recognition. 

The car filled slowly. Tom, opening his magazine, 
hoped that leaving time would arrive before a colored 
“ mammy ” toting a pickaninny or a basket of market- 
ing plumped herself beside him. He was spared that, 
although he was not fortunate enough to keep the seat 
to himself. At the very last moment, when he had 
congratulated himself and was settling down to a story 
in the magazine, he became aware of a disturbance 
beside him and looked up to see a flash of white teeth 
and the friendly twinkling of a pair of pale blue 
eyes under colorless lashes. 

“ Reckon I’ll have to sit in with you-all,” said the 
owner of the teeth. Tom murmured politely and drew 
himself toward the window, and the youth of the 
chewing gum incident lowered himself to the seat, very 
careful not to jostle his neighbor as the car swayed 
over the yard switches, set his valise between his feet, 
doubled his faded khaki overcoat over his gaunt knees 
and folded a pair of scarred and rugged hands on the 
coat. Observing from the corners of his eyes, Tom 
saw the boy’s jaws working rhythmically over his 
gum. Tom went back to his story. Evidently his 
4 


A NEW BOY ARRIVES 


neighbor had the good sense not to attempt conversa- 
tion. 

Presently the conductor came, and Tom, yielding 
his own ticket to North Bank, saw with surprise that 
the boy beside him gave up a similar ticket. That 
this raw-boned, countrified fellow could be on his way 
to North Bank School was too ridiculous for credence, 
and yet, if he was not going to the school, where could 
he be going? Broadly speaking, the school was all 
there was at North Bank in the winter. In summer 
the houses and bungalows that lined the river were 
occupied, but at this time of year, the first week in 
January, only one or two would be open. Tom stole 
a puzzled look at his traveling companion, and at the 
same moment the latter turned his blue eyes on Tom. 
The blue eyes twinkled before Tom could look past 
and away, and the broad mouth curved in a likable 
smile. .Unconsciously, Tom smiled back. If, he re- 
flected, you lost sight of the fellow’s impossible attire, 
he wasn’t so bad ! 

“ Reckon you-all are goin’ to the school,” said the 
boy question ingly. Tom nodded. 

“ I’m going to North Bank,” he agreed pleasantly. 

“ That’s what I thought. I’m goin’ there, too.” 
The blue eyes moved past Tom to stare calmly 
through the window. 


5 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“Oh!” said Tom, not thinking of anything better 
at the moment. His gaze swept the oddly dressed 
youth again. He hated to think what would happen 
when this new acquaintance was seen by his future 
schoolmates ! After a moment he asked : “ What 

class are you in ? ” 

“ The feller that wrote to Pap said I'd be in the third 
class. I ain’t had much schoolin'. Reckon I’m kind 
of old for the third.” 

“ How old are you ? ” 

“ Seventeen.” 

Tom hesitated. Looking closely at the other he 
could see that his first guess of sixteen had been wrong. 
Now he could have accepted even eighteen "as the chap’s 
age, for in spite of the boyish smile and the uncouth' 
appearance there was a settled, mature expression in 
the face. “ Well,” Tom said finally, “ seventeen is a 
bit old for the third class, but I wouldn’t let that trouble 
you.” 

The other shook his head placidly. " I ain’t reck- 
onin’ to let it trouble me none, neighbor,” he said in 
his not unpleasant drawh “ I ain’t never goin’ to get 
any younger. Reckon that’s your class, too.” 

“ No, I’m in the second.” Tom, to his surprise, 
spoke almost apologetically. 

" Are you? Well, then I reckon you-all can tell me 
6 


A NEW BOY ARRIVES 


somethin’ about this class I’m goin’ in. Do they learn 
you pretty hard?” 

" Learn you — oh, are the studies hard, you mean ? 
No, I don’t think so. The regular stuff ; algebra, Eng- 
lish, Latin, geography and so on.” 

“ Mh-mh. Reckon that Latin’s goin’ to stump me, 
though. I never had any Latin. The feller that wrote 
Pap said I’d have to do a sight of work on that Latin 
so’s to catch up with the other fellers.” 

“ Third class Latin’s not very hard,” said Tom con- 
solingly. “ Coming in like this, though, in the middle 
of the year, makes it a bit stiffen If you’d started in 
with your class, you know ” 

“ Mh-mh, that’s what the feller said. But I couldn’t 
of come last September. Pap didn’t have any one in 
the store and he couldn’t get any one, either, and so I 
had to stay by him. Seems like since the War nobody 
wants to do any work. Then some of the fellers didn’t 
come back at all. Gene Simpkins and Bill Tolliver 
-was killed, and Lee Nash — nobody knows what hap- 
pened to Lee. He just dropped out of sight. His 
mammy’s still lookin’ for him, but I reckon he’s a 
goner. A couple of the fellers got jobs in New York. 
Pap ain’t as young as he used to be and I sort of hated 
to leave him.” 


7 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

“ I see,” said Tom. “ But he found some one 
finally, eh? Your father, I mean.” 

“ He ain’t my father. I never had any father, any 
rate not as I can remember. Nor any mammy, neither. 
Reckon I did have ’em once, but they died before I 
knowed ’em. Pap Huckins brung — brang me up, but 
he ain’t any kin of mine. I always called him Pap 
because I never had any real Pap.” 

“ Where do you live? ” asked Tom. 

“ Huckinsburg, North Carolina. It’s named for 
Pap. Pap’s folks was quality before the war; the old 
war, I mean, where we-all fought you-all.” 

Tom laughed. “ You think Pm a Northerner, then, 
do you ? ” 

The other smiled with twinkling eyes. “ Reckon 
you must be,” he answered. “ Any rate, you ain’t a 
Southron. Ain’t you a Yank?” 

“ I guess that’s what you’d call me. My name’s 
Hartley, by the way.” 

“ Pleased to know you.” The boy seized Tom’s 
hand in a crushing grip and shook it heartily. “ My 
name’s Jerry Benson. I’m powerful glad to meet up 
with a friend, ’cause I reckon a lot of those high-toned 

fellers at school won’t have much use for a feller like 

_ >> 
me. 

Tom, a trifle dismayed, muttered something as he 
8 


A NEW BOY ARRIVES 


surreptitiously examined his mangled fingers. Jerry 
Benson went on placidly. 

“ Reckon I ain’t really got any right at this school, 
seeing I’m a sort of country feller, but Pap allowed 
the best was the cheapest in the long run, and he knows 
a man over to Brattleville whose boy went to North 
Bank and so he made up his mind I was to go here too. 
I wanted to go to the school over to Major’s Run. It’s 
a right good school, too. But Pap, he’d set his heart on 
this place. Reckon there’s a heap of trouble ahead 
of me, don’t you?” The pale blue eyes were twink- 
ling again and Tom had the thought that even if his 
acquaintance anticipated trouble he certainly didn’t 
look concerned about it ! 

“ Well, I don’t know,” he began. “ Perhaps a few 
fellows may rag you, but I guess they’re not worth 
considering, Benson. You see ” 

“ Say,” the other interrupted, “ I’d sort of like you 
to call me Jerry. No one ain’t never called me Benson 
before, and it sounds unnatural. Reckon you didn’t 
say what your first name is.” 

“ Tom.” 

“ Mh-mh. Tom’s a good easy name to handle, 
ain’t it? Reckon you and me’s goin’ to be friends, 
Tom.” 


9 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


What answer Tom would have made he never knew, 
for at that moment the car began to slow and the con- 
ductor’s voice came as a welcome diversion: 


“ North Bank! North Bank !” 


CHAPTER II 

TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 

T OM got separated from Jerry Benson on the 
way out, though it came about through no ef- 
fort of his. However, that he was somewhat 
relieved I won’t deny. To have appeared on the 
platform of the tiny station in the role of sponsor 
to the uncouth North Carolinian would have re- 
quired some courage! In all, six boys disembarked. 
The school carriage, a three-seated, covered con- 
veyance known locally as a “ hack,” capable of 
accommodating nine passengers and drawn by a 
pair of sleek black mules that were the pride of 
Cicero, the negro driver, was waiting, and into it 
clambered all save Tom. As the train had pulled up 
at the station Tom had descried Joe Kirkham there to 
meet him, and now, tossing his bag to Cicero, he 
elected to walk the short distance to school with Joe. 
He noted Jerry Benson question the driver of the ve- 
hicle and then climb into a back seat, as he did so send- 
ing a surprised glance after his newly-found friend. 
Tom experienced a pang of self-reproach at his de- 


ii 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


sertion of the other and, impulsively, he walked back 
and called to Jerry. 

“ I’m going to walk, Jerry,” he said. “ See you 
later. Go to the Office and they’ll look after you.” 

Jerry smiled and nodded as the carriage moved away, 
and Tom, aware of the amused expressions on the 
faces of the other boys, returned to the waiting Joe. 
Joe’s expression was less amused than bewildered. 

“Who’s that fellow?” he gasped. 

Tom explained as they began their walk, ending 
with: “ He’s in for a tough time, I guess, Joke, and 
it’s sort of too bad, for he seems a decent chap. I 
feel rather mean for shaking him just now, too. The 
fellows will rag the life out of him when they see 
him.” 

; “ Joke ” chuckled. “ Reckon they will,” he agreed. 
His nickname had evolved itself naturally from the 
sound of his first and last names and was not intended 
to indicate his character or habits, for although he was 
a cheerful chap he had no special gift for joking. 
“ Some one,” he went on, “ ought to make him get 
some decent clothes, first thing. Say, who’s he 
rooming with? ” 

“ Room — ” Tom stopped short, struck speechless 
by a horrible thought, and gazed at Joe in wide- 
eyed dismay. 


12 


TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 


“What’s the matter? ” asked the other. “Lost 
something? ” 

“ You don’t suppose he — they — ” He swallowed 
and made a fresh start. “Joke, they might — might 
put him in with me ! ” 

“With you? Gee, that’s so! I’d forgotten Tim 
was gone! ” Joe stared back at Tom’s troubled coun- 
tenance and a look of unholy glee overspread his face. 
Then he gave a whoop of joy and doubled up in laugh- 
ter. “Oh, boy!” he gurgled. “Oh, me! oh, my! 
That’s rich!” 

“ Oh, shut up ! Listen, there are two or three fel- 
lows in Follen without roommates, aren’t there? Bur- 
kenside’s alone, and that red-headed fellow who played 
on the scrub last spring, Joyce or Royce or something 
like that” Tom was recovering his spirits. 

“ I know,” gasped Joe, “ but — but something tells 
me you’ll be the lucky guy, Tom ! You’ll win the prize ! 
I fu-feel it!” 

“ You’ll feel my fist if you don’t shut up that cack- 
ling,” threatened Tom, starting on scowlingly. 
“ Anyway, I won’t have him. They haven’t any 
right to. I — I’ll leave school first! ” 

“ Yes, you will,” jeered Joe. 

“I will! You see if I don’t!” Tom spoke very 
determinedly. After a moment, during which Joe, at 
13 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


his side, viewed him with secret amusement, his brow 
cleared. ft He’s only in the third class,” he said hope- 
fully. “ They’ll put him in Follen as sure as shooting. 
Gee, but I had a fright, just the same. I sort of took 
to the fellow, Joe, because he seemed sort of pathetic 
and all that, but I wouldn’t care a whole lot to have 
him for roommate.” 

“ Oh, I reckon you’ll get to like him,” chuckled the 
other. 

“ Dry up and tell me the news. Who’s back? ” 
Not many. Lory and Danny and Billy Conger 
and a dozen or so others. The crowd won’t begin to 
get here until late. How’d you happen to come so 
early?” 

“ Got in New York at eight-forty; went down to 
the city with dad, you know; and thought I might as 
well take the nine o’clock as wait around. How did 
you know I’d be on that train? ” 

“ Didn’t know, Tom, but just took a chance. There 
wasn’t much to do. Rod isn’t back yet.” 

“ Hiave a good time at Christmas? ” 

“ So-so. Pretty quiet. We had some skating for 
a couple of days. Mother was sick for three or four 
days, though, and that kind of spoiled the fun. How 
about you? ” 

“ Corking! I was in New York until Christmas 
14 


TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 


morning with dad and my sister. Went to two plays 
and three movies and had a lot of bully eats. What 
did you get, Joe? ” 

Joe enumerated his presents and Tom followed 
suit, and for the rest of the distance they swapped 
reminiscences of the holidays. The road wound pic- 
turesquely through the winter woods, the sunlight was 
warm and the air brisk. Here and there the entrance 
to some summer home appeared and occasionally a 
clearing gave them a glimpse of the Severn, very blue 
under the cloudless sky. So far the Maryland winter 
had been fairly mild and on the southern slopes the 
grass still held more than a hint of green. When they 
had walked unhurriedly something over a half mile a 
hedge of privet appeared at their left and a comfor- 
table and commodious house met their gaze. From 
the chimneys blue smoke drifted away to the line of 
nearly leafless poplars that marked the boundary of 
the estate, and an automobile stood before the doorway. 

“ Hello,” said Tom. “ The Laurences are here.” 

“ Yes, been here right along, Cicero says. If I 
had a house in the country like that Fd spend Christ- 
mas in it, too. It’s a lot more fun than being in 
town.” 

“ Ye-es,” agreed Tom doubtfully. “ Still, you can 
have a pretty good time in the city. I mean a real 
15 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


city, of course. I dare say it’s different in Philadel- 
phia.’' 

Joe, who lived in Philadelphia, grunted, but refused 
the challenge. It was an old subject of debate be- 
tween them, that matter of the superiority of New 
York and Philadelphia. A moment later the grounds 
of North Bank School came into view, adjoining the 
Laurence place. A small grove of trees hid the build- 
ings until they were opposite the ball field. A wooden 
stand stood between the iron fence and the first base 
line and beyond it, interrupting their view again, was 
a similar but larger stand at the north side of the foot- 
ball gridiron. The school boundaries encompassed 
some six acres of field and woods. Near the center 
of the grounds was Founders’ Hall, a large and im- 
posing brick building graced by a wooden tower that 
shone dazzlingly white in the afternoon sunlight. The 
sun shone, too, on the big bell in the open cupola, strik- 
ing coppery rays from its surface. The Hall held 
class rooms, chapel, commons and offices within its 
three ivy-draped stories. On the side nearer the road 
the four dormitories were arranged in a half circle, 
their entrances facing the front of the Hall, their back 
toward the thoroughfare. At the farther end of the 
arc was McCrea House. Then came Baldwin, then 
Follen and, last, Ellicot. Although the Houses were 
16 


TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 


all of wooden construction, they differed in age, size 
and appearance. Follen, at the right of the entrance 
driveway, was the largest, a timber and cement edifice 
of many gables containing forty rooms. McCrea was 
a modest structure, the oldest of them all, and accom- 
modated but thirty students. These five buildings, if 
we omit the stable, near by, the boathouse below the 
gently sloping bank, and the row of bathhouses beyond, 
comprised the plant with one important exception. 
The exception was the Sharpies Gymnasium. This 
building, standing behind Ellicot House, its glassed 
roof almost shaded by the trees that followed the boun- 
dary on that side to the river’s edge, had been pre- 
sented to the school by the parents of a former student 
who had died in the service of Great Britain in the 
first few months of the World War, as a bronze tablet 
beside the handsome entrance informed one. 

Passing through the entrance, where an ivied gate 
house presented two inquiring windows toward the 
passers, the boys made their way to Founders’ Hall. 
A hail from the steps of Baldwin House, where three 
boys were loitering in the sunlight, delayed them an in- 
stant. In the Office, Tom signed the register, Joe 
waiting outside. As he laid the pen down the assist- 
ant spoke. 


1 7 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Mr. Ledyard would like to see you a minute,” he 
said. 

In the inner office the school secretary arose as Tom 
entered and shook hands heartily. He was a some- 
what dapper little man with a carefully trimmed brown 
beard and keen dark eyes. “ Glad to see you back, 
Hartley,” he said. “Sit down, won’t you? Well, 
you look as if vacation had agreed with you. No use 
asking if you’ve had a good time, I guess. Hm.” 
Mr. Ledyard cleared his throat, picked a filing card 
from his desk, glanced at it and put it down again. 
“ What I had to say to you was this, Hartley. We’ve 
had a rather extraordinary fellow come to us. Per- 
haps I shouldn’t say extraordinary, though; out of 
the ordinary is better. He’s a boy named ” — he 
glanced at the card again — “named Jeremiah Ben- 
son, from a small town in North Carolina. His par- 
ents died when he was a baby, as I understand, and 
he was adopted by a gentleman named ” — another 
glimpse of the card — “ Huckins. Mr. Huckins is 
placing the boy here. Frankly, he is rather unsophis- 
ticated and, using the word in the French meaning, 
gauche. I don’t think he is stupid; rather the con- 
trary ; but his schooling has been somewhat neglected 
and he has, I think, never been long outside his home 
village. A boy of his sort requires careful handling, 
18 


TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 


Hartley. He will run up against fellows of his own 
age who stand higher in class, who are more experi- 
enced and more worldly wise and who will, I fear, be 
tempted to ridicule his innocence and odd manners and 
even his appearance, for” — and here the secretary 
smiled reminiscently — “there's no denying that he 
presented a somewhat uncouth appearance a few min- 
utes ago. It's no very difficult thing to wound the 
susceptibility of such a fellow, Hartley, and too many 
wounds will work ill. Naturally, the faculty can't 
keep every student under constant care and supervis- 
ion. Therefore the next best thing is to place Benson 
with some one who may, to an extent, provide the pro- 
tection that we aren't able to give, some one who will 
advise him and see that he gets along as smoothly as is 
possible. Of course he will have some battles to fight 
for himself. That’s proper.- But the lad musn’t be 
bullied and hectored and ridiculed too much. He 
mustn’t have his spirit broken. f Now there are several 
vacancies in the Houses, Hartley, and several boys with 
whom I might have placed Benson. But after con- 
sidering them all my choice fell on you.” 

If Mr. Ledyard expected surprise or protest he was 
disappointed. Tom merely said “ Yes, sir,” and waited 
for the other to proceed. From the first he had known 
19 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

what was coming. Mr. Ledyard cleared his throat 
again. 

“ You may think this something of an imposition,” 
he went on, “ but I hope you won't look at it that way. 
I’d like you to realize that here is a chance to be of 
real service to a brother mortal and to your school as 
well. And I venture to say that you’ll be doing your- 
self no ill service, Hartley, for if this country boy 
comes through right, as I fully expect him to, you’ll be 
proud and happy because of your share in his develop- 
ment. The lad has plenty of fine qualities, I think. 
For instance, when we entered the War he walked 
sixty-odd miles to enlist in his country’s service. 
Because of his youth — he was only fifteen, I believe 
— he was turned down. Six months or so later, hav- 
ing passed his sixteenth birthday, he made the jour- 
ney a second time. He frankly admits lying on this 
second occasion. He told the recruiting officer — 
he was trying for the Navy then — that he was sev- 
enteen. This time he would have succeeded had 
not the armistice been signed a day or two later. Of 
course, I don’t excuse the falsehood, but I can view it 
with leniency. I mention this incident, Hartley, only 
to show that there must be a great deal in the boy that 
is worth going after and cultivating. Now, what do 


20 


TOM ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY 


you say? How do you feel toward the obligation 
I’ve set you? ” 

Tom smiled. “ I’ll do the best I can, sir,” he an- 
swered. “ I ought to have told you before, I guess, 
that I’ve seen Benson. He was on the train with me 
and we got — got sort of acquainted, I rather took to 
him, sir, in spite of — of everything.” 

“ I certainly am glad, Hartley ! Understand, please, 
that I’m not proposing a guardianship for you. Ben- 
son must hoe his own row. But you can make that 
row easier for him by advice and example. You see, 
my boy, I’ve a pretty fine opinion of you. We all have. 
You’ve been with us two years, nearly, and you’ve 
shown yourself clean and manly, cool-headed and sen- 
sible. In short, you’re the man for the job. And 
I’m mighty glad you’re assuming it cheerfully. Come 
to me with your problems if you can’t solve them alone 
and let me help. You may be sure that I’ll be watch- 
ing all the time with a whole lot of interest. I’ve sent 
Benson over to Baldwin and you’ll probably find him 
awaiting you. Thanks, Hartley.” 

The secretary stood up, smiling, with outstretched 
hand. Tom smiled, too, as he accepted the clasp, but 
smiled a trifle ruefully. “ I hope I’ll prove up to the 
job, sir,” he said. “ Anyway, I’ll do the best I know 
how.” 


21 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ I’m sure you will, my boy. Good luck to you ! 99 

Outside, in the corridor, a bored and somewhat re- 
sentful Joe awaited him. 

“ Been having afternoon tea in there ? ” he inquired 
sarcastically. “ Or have you and * Whiskers ’ been re- 
arranging the study course for the rest of the year? 
Gee-gosh, I thought you weren’t ever coming out ! ” 

“ He’s just been telling me,” replied Tom, “ that he’s 
put that chap Benson in with me.” 

“Benson? Who’s — you mean the country jay? 
Great Jumping Jehosophat, Tom ! What are you go- 
ing to do ? ” 

Tom looked at his watch. “ Just now,” he an- 
swered, “ I’m going over and have a bath before the 
crowd gathers.” 


CHAPTER III 
JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


“"V - RECKON youTe wishin’ I was in Halifax,” 
said Jerry Benson. 

•A. Tom had had his bath, had unpacked his bag 
and now, wrapped in an old gray bath robe, was 
stretched on the window seat. Jerry, who had di- 
vested himself of coat and waistcoat, collar and 
tie and shoes, sat in a morris chair and looked 
anxiously across. Outside, noise and bustle told 
of new arrivals, and from within the House the 
tramping of feet in the corridors, the opening of 
doors and the sounds of talk and laughter sug- 
gested that most of Baldwin’s thirty-five rooms had 
recovered their occupants. The clock on Founders’ 
Hall pointed its tarnished gilt hands to twenty-two min- 
utes past four and the shadows were long across the 
campus. Beyond the river, a blue-gray haze added 
mystery to the wooded distance and, straight away, 
the spires and towers of Annapolis pointed against a 
sunset sky. 

Tom made no answer for a moment. Then! he 

23 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


swung his slippered feet to the floor, sat up and faced 
Jerry soberly. “ No,” he answered, “ I don’t, Jerry. 
You and I don’t know each other very well, and when a 
couple of fellows get put together in a room like 
this — strangers, I mean — it’s a good deal of a gam- 
ble. But if they’re both pretty decent they get on all 
right. It’s a case of give and take, though. You’ll 
have to put up with my queer ways and I’ll have to put 
up with yours ; for the other fellow’s ways always are 
queer until you get used to ’em! I guess we’ll get 
along without much spatting, because I’m not what 
you’d call quarrelsome, and I don’t think you are. 
There’s one subject we’d better come to agreement on 
right now, though, and that’s the Civil War. I’m a 
Northerner, Jerry, and you’re a Southerner. My first 
year here I had fully six scraps about it. Suppose 
we settle it now.” 

“ All right,” said Jerry. “ What about it?” 

“ Well, to begin with, each side thought it was dead 
right. That the way you understand it ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“And each side fought hard to win and fought 
bravely. That so?” 

“ That’s the way I learned it,” the other agreed. 

“ And one side made just as many mistakes as the 
other and played just as fair?” 

24 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


Jerry nodded again. 

“ And the North won? 99 

“ Sure did ! ” 

“ And it’s all over? ” 

“ Yes, sir, it’s all over. It’s been over two, three 
years.” 

“ How long? 99 ejaculated Tom. 

“ Two, three years.” Jerry’s eyes twinkled. 
“ Ever since the Big War came along and we got into 
it. Before that there was a heap of folks up in the 
hills didn’t know the other war was done ! ” 

“ I can believe that,” laughed Tom. “ Some of the 
fellows here didn’t know it any too well when I came. 
Well, that’s settled. Now, that’s your side of the 
room, because this has been mine for a year and a half. 
If you want to put up some pictures over there I’ll 
move those out of the way. They belong to the fel- 
low who was here before. He got sick just after 
Thanksgiving and went home, and he isn’t coming 
back.” 

Jerry looked and shook his head. “ I didn’t bring 
any pictures,” he said. “ Those are real pretty, ain’t 
they?” 

“ I suppose your trunk’s coming up? ” asked Tom. 

“ I didn’t bring any trunk,” answered the other. 
“ I’ve got ’most everything I own in my bag. Pap 

25 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


said I could buy things here better’n I could there. 
Reckon I’ll have to pay a sight more for them, though.’’ 

“ Have you got another suit in there? ” Tom nodded 
at the yellow valise. 

“ Yes, but it’s my old one.” 

“ Let’s have a look at it.” 

Jerry pulled it forth and presented it for inspection. 
Tom sighed with relief. Whatever its shortcomings 
might be, at least it was a civilized color. He nodded 
approval. 

“ Blue serge is always good, Jerry. If I was you 
I’d put it on instead of the one you’re wearing.” 

Jerry viewed it dubiously. “ It’s sort of worn out,” 
he hazarded. 

“ Never mind. Jerry, I don’t want to hurt your 
feelings, but that suit you’ve got on now won’t do 
here.” 

“ Won’t it?” Jerry looked surprised. “Well, it 
ain’t a very good fit, but I thought likely I could get a 
tailor to shorten the legs and sleeves a couple of in- 
ches.” He observed Tom questioningly. 

Tom shook his head firmly. “ I’m sorry, Jerry, 
but it isn’t only the fit. The color doesn’t suit you. 
You’re sort of light, you know, and you need darker 
things. Suppose you put that suit back in the bag to 
wear when you get home again and get another one in 
26 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 

Baltimore in a day or two. You could run up there 
Saturday/’ 

“ All right, if you say so.” Jerry looked thoughtful 
but docile. “ How much’ll a suit cost me, do you 
reckon? ” 

“ I guess you’d ought to get a fairly decent one for 
thirty dollars.” 

“Golly! That’s a heap of money, ain’t it? Say, 
this one only cost me eighteen ! ” 

Tom felt like saying that it looked it, but he didn’t. 
Instead : “ It pays to spend a little more, Jerry, and 

get a good one. It’ll last longer and you’ll get more 
satisfaction out of it.” He mentally reviewed his pos- 
sible engagements. “If you like, I’ll go with you and 
help you pick one out.” 

“Will you? Well, now, I’d be powerful glad to 
have you, Tom. I reckon those fellers in the city 
would skin the hide offen me! ” 

“ And you’d better get a couple of shirts and some 
ties and a few things,” continued Tom offhandedly. 
“ That is, if you can afford them.” 

“ Reckon I can. I’ve got ’most four hundred dol- 
lars saved up. Pap paid me three dollars a week in 
the store, though he didn’t have any right to, because 
he’s fed me and clothed me ever since I was two, three 
years old. And he’s payin’ for my schoolin’, too. But 
27 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Fm agoin’ to make it up to him when I get to earnin' 
money, Tom, I’ve got fifty dollars on me right now. 
Pap said Fd better go heeled because there wasn’t any 
tellin’ what’d happen.” Jerry reached for the waist- 
coat of the obnoxious suit and unpinned three bills 
from an inside pocket. “ Reckon that’ll buy every- 
thing, don’t you ? ” 

“ That’s plenty,” agreed Tom. “ Now suppose you 
change your clothes and we’ll go out and look around.” 

Jerry was still far from resembling Beau Brummel 
when the change was made, but the old blue serge suit, 
never very good even when new, was an improvement 
on the other. Unfortunately, it was almost as much 
too small as the other was too large, and Jerry’s bony 
wrists protruded from the sleeves shamelessly, while 
the end of the trousers left exposed two expanses of 
gray woolen socks. |Tom made a mental note to the 
effect that if Jerry’s money lasted long enough socks 
and shoes should be included in Saturday’s purchases. 

Tom didn’t spend an altogether happy hour between 
five and six that Thursday afternoon. Jerry, putting 
it as mildly as possible, attracted a good deal of at- 
tention, and very little of it was flattering. Tom had 
provided his charge with one of his own collars and 
an inoffensive blue four-in-hand tie, but Jerry’s hat 
had gone unnoticed until they were in the corridor, and 
28 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


then Ton; hadn’t the heart to drag the other back to 
the room and substitute one of his old caps for the 
snuff-colored felt. All that saved Jerry from open 
ridicule, possibly insult, at the hands of some of the 
younger and thoughtless fellows was the fact that Tom 
was beside him. Tom was well-known, well-liked and 
well-respected, and, to some extent, feared. Conse- 
quently most of the criticisms aimed at the newcomer 
were delivered in carefully modulated tones, and much 
of the laughter was of the silent sort. 

| Tom couldn’t determine whether Jerry was as un- 
conscious of the impression he was creating as he ap- 
peared. More than once, passing some group of fel- 
lows, Tom was uncomfortably aware of the surprise, 
instantly changing to ill-concealed merriment, that 
greeted them. It didn’t seem quite possible that Jerry 
should fail to notice it, but nothing in his manner or 
expression showed that he did, Tom went through 
with his task conscientiously, showing the new boy 
over the grounds and through the Hall, pausing in 
front of each of the Houses to explain them, as, before 

> McCrea : “ Here’s where most of the first class fel- 

lows live, Jerry. It’s the smallest of the Houses. 
Only fifteen rooms. That’s Mr. Cranz’s study on the 
left there. Mr. Logan’s is on the other side of the en- 
trance.” 


29 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Teachers? ” asked Jerry. 

“ Yes, Cranz is modem languages and Logan math- 
ematics. We call ’em ‘ faculties 9 here instead of 
teachers.” 

Later, in front of Follen : “ Fourth class quarters. 

Mrs. Barry, the matron, and Mr. Ledyard, the secre- 
tary, are in charge here. Follen is the largest of the 
lot and has forty rooms.” 

From the steps five irrepressible youths were staring 
wide-eyed at the strange boy in the queer hat, but Tom 
paid them no heed beyond a nod to those he knew. 
As the pair turned away giggles followed them and one 
shrill voice called : “ Reckon there’s been a right smart 

o’ rain daown in the country!” This reference to 
Jerry’s “ high-water ” trousers evidently didn’t per- 
meate to Jerry’s understanding, for he continued un- 
interruptedly the question he was asking. 

It was black dark when they returned to Number 7 
Baldwin and found Joe Kirkham lolling on the window 
seat there.- “ Hello,” he greeted, sending a quick side 
glance of curiosity at Jerry. “ Where the dickens 
were you? I’ve been waiting half an hour here. 
Thought you said you’d be in.” 

“ Sorry, Joke. I forgot, and was showing Jerry 
around. Jerry, meet Joe Kirkham. Joe, this is Jerry 
Benson.” 


30 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


“ Right glad to know you,” responded Jerry, crush- 
ing Joe’s fingers in his big hand. “ Reckon I seen 
— saw you at the station.” 

“ Very glad to know you, Benson. Yes, I was there 
when you came in. Tom been treating you right? 
Hasn’t borrowed any money from you or made you 
sign any papers ? You’ll have to watch him, Benson ! ” 

“ Reckon I’d sign anything he told me to,” answered 
Jerry, with a twinkle of his blue eyes. 

“ Yes, I dare say,” complained Joe, with assumed 
bitterness. “ He can get away with anything. Folks 
think everything Tom does is all right. Mighty good 
thing for him they don’t all know him the way I do ! ” 

“ That so? ” Jerry brushed the nap of his felt hat 
very carefully against a sleeve and laid it on his chif- 
fonier. “ Reckon it’s safe for me to bunk in with 
him?” 

“ Well, I’d sleep with my watch and money under 
my pillow,” replied Joe. “ How do you like the 
school, Benson?” 

“ I like it right well.” He fixed a serious gaze on 
Joe as he went on. “ Reckon I’ll have to ask you to 
call me Jerry. J ain’t ever been called anything but 
that, you see.” 

Joe’s half-bantering expression faded and he re- 
turned Jerry’s look straightly and gravely. “All 
3i 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


right, Jerry,” he answered. “ Glad to. And my 
name’s Joe; only the fellows call me Joke. Coming 
to supper, you, two ? ” 

The students ate in a big and rather bare room on 
the first floor of Founders’ Hall known as Commons. 
Sixteen long tables, accommodating from twelve to 
fourteen, pretty well filled the floor there and the col- 
ored waiters often had difficulty in navigating the nar- 
row spaces, a fact that made seats on the wider center 
aisle much sought. Both Tom and Joe were fortunate 
possessors of such seats, but Tom’s attempt to get Jerry 
a place at their table failed, and the former watched 
the new boy’s relegation to a distant board with mis- 
givings. “They’ll rag the life out of him,” he confided 
to Joe. “ And I’ll bet he’s half-starved, for he told me 
he only had a sandwich and a cup of coffee at noon.” 

“ Don’t you worry too much about that chap,” said 
Joe. “ I may be all wrong, but it’s my opinion that 
your friend Jerry is mighty well able to look after 
himself. That fellow is no one’s fool, Tom, and I’ll 
wager that he can give as good as he gets.” 

“ Maybe,” said Tom, looking across the hall after 
Jerry, “ but they’ve put him at Four, with Wayne Sort- 
well and Mansfield and that bunch. If Wayne gets 
started on him he’ll make it mighty uncomfortable for 
him.” 


32 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


“ Forget it, son, and pass the biscuits. Gee, I won- 
der if they made these before vacation! Say, Wayne 
came on the train with you from Baltimore, didn’t he? 
Did he speak to you? ” 

“ No, nor I co him,” answered Tom dryly. 

Joe laughed. “ Gee, you two are certainly funny! 
You don’t either of you know what you’re mad about. 
Hello, Norry! Didn’t see you. What have you been 
doing to get so thin?” 

Pete Norris, North Bank School’s prize fat boy, 
across the table contributed a grin as his share of the 
resultant merriment, and Joe returned to the previous 
subject. “ Honest, Tom, Wayne isn’t such a bad sort. 
I don’t know him very well, but a lot of the fellows 
like him pretty well. And you’ve got to hand it to him 
for playing a good game of ball.” 

“ I haven’t anything against him — especially,” re- 
plied Tom. “ I just don’t like him. And he just 
doesn’t like me. We’re satisfied, Joke, so you might 
as well be! Besides, whether he plays baseball well 
hasn’t got much to do with it, has it? ” 

“ N-no, only as you’re both on the Nine it would 
make it easier and more — more pleasant if you got 
on together a little better. Well, it’s none of my busi- 
ness. Pass the biscuits, please.” 

After supper they parted in the corridor, Joe to seek 
33 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


a missing roommate who, up to the time of going to 
Commons, had failed to show up. Tom found Jerry 
awaiting him, a contented, undisturbed Jerry who 
sported a toothpick very frankly. Tom drew him 
forth into the night, away from the amused inspection 
of the fellows coming out of Commons. He wanted 
to know whether Wayne Sort well and the others at 
Number Four table had tried to haze Jerry, but some- 
how he didn’t like to ask. What he did ask finally was : 
“ Everything all right? ” 

“ Fine,” replied the other boy with gusto. “ The 
food’s right good. I was so hungry I mighty nigh 
foundered myself.” Jerry laughed softly. 

“ What? ” asked Tom. 

“ Feller next to me played a joke on me. Put a lot 
of salt in my tea when he reckoned I wasn’t lookin’.” 

“ Oh ! Well, they’ll do that sort of thing at first to 
a new boy. Best way is not to mind them, Jerry,” 

“ I didn’t. ’Fore I could drink it I hit it with my 
arm and it spilled all over his lap, and I had to have a 
new cup. Reckon I was pretty clumsy.” 

Tom broke into a laugh. “ I hope to goodness it 
was Hal Mansfield ! What sort of a looking chap was 
he?” 

“ Well, he was kind of lean and wore glasses. 
Seemed like a right pleasant feller.” 

34 


JERRY UPSETS HIS TEA 


“ That wasn’t Mansfield,” said Tom, disappointedly. 
“ But, whoever he was, it served him right. By the 
way, Jerry, I suppose you’ve noticed that folks around 
here have different ways from the folks where you 
live. I mean — well, now, for instance, up here they 
don’t use toothpicks in public.” 

“That so? ’Tain’t manners, you mean? 'All 
right.” Jerry threw his toothpick away. “ I’m 
obliged to you, Tom,” he continued. “ I’ll be glad if 
you’ll tell me anything like that that ain’t right, be- 
cause I know I’m right ignorant of such things.” 

“ You’re going to catch on mighty quick, Jerry. If 
I do call you down for little things like using a tooth- 
pick just you take it in good part.” 

“ Reckon I’d be a plumb fool if I didn’t,” said Jerry. 
“ Say, the fellers at supper were talkin’ something 
about a party that the Principal was givin’ this even- 
ing. Was you plannin’ to go ? ” 

Tom hadn’t been. Having sponsored Jerry so far, 
he felt that he was entitled to a recess until the morrow. 
But Jerry’s tone plainly implied that he would like to 
go, and Tom relented. 

“ Yes, Doctor Heidler gives a reception to-night. 
Would you like to go? ” 

“ Well, I reckon so, if I’m dressed fancy enough.” 

35 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


" Oh, it doesn’t matter what you wear. You’re all 
right. We’ll go, then.” 

The fact that between eight and half past nine 
most of North Bank’s two hundred odd students 
crowded into the Principal’s none too commodious 
parlor and library and dining room in Ellicot House 
made Tom’s task easier, for Jerry’s eccentricities of at- 
tire were not so noticeable in a crowd. Mr. Ledyard 
was there and for awhile took the new boy in charge 
and introduced him to the Doctor. The Principal, a 
tall, very scholarly-looking man of middle age, ap- 
peared to take a great interest in Jerry, and Tom noted 
that they remained in conversation for several min- 
utes. Later, there were sandwiches and hot chocolate, 
and Tom, at Jerry’s elbow, saw with relief that his 
charge handled plate and cup with, if not ease and dex- 
terity, at least with none of the awkwardness that had 
spilled the tea at supper. 

On the way back to Baldwin through a mild and 
starlit night Jerry broke a long silence. “ Reckon,” 
he said, “ Pm goin’ to like this place right smart, Tom. 
Folks are mighty neighborly, ain’t they? ” 

Tom tried to see his companion’s face, but it was too 
dark, so he said : “ Yes,” after a moment, and won- 

dered in the silence whether Jerry’s blue eyes twinkled. 


CHAPTER IV 
THE HAZING 

T OM didn't see much of Jerry the next day un- 
til afternoon, for they met neither at classes 
nor meals, but he feared that the North Caro- 
linian was having his troubles. Yet when they did 
meet, at four, Jerry looked as unperturbed as ever and, 
although he confessed to some awkward experiences 
with the instructors — Mr. Troop, who taught geog- 
raphy and science, had openly ridiculed the boy's 
ignorance — he said nothing of any difficulty with his 
schoolmates. Either, thought Tom, Jerry was sin- 
gularly dense — which he didn’t appear to be — or he 
was remarkably forbearing and patient. It didn’t 
seem possible that he could have gone through the day 
without encountering a good share of openly expressed 
ridicule. Some light was thrown on the matter, how- 
ever, when Tom met Joe in the gymnasium at five. 
“Where’s Jerry?” Joe inquired, grinning. 

“ In the room. He’s got his coat and waistcoat off 
and his suspenders tied around his waist and he’s 
4 wrastlin' ' with Latin. If he doesn't tear all his hair 
37 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


out first, he will get the decision. Jerry studying is an 
interesting sight, Joke. He gets hold of that short 
hair of his — or tries to — puts both elbows on the 
table, winds his legs around the chair and bores in. 
And every minute or two he groans like a lost soul ! ” 
“ Heard about him this morning, didn't you? ” 

“ Nothing especial. What do you mean? ” 

“ He didn’t tell you then?" Joe chuckled as he 
stooped to lace his gym shoes. “ Why, half a dozen 
fellows were standing outside the Hall between classes 
when Jerry came along. That smart Jordan — you 
know him; wears glasses and talks like a mouthful 
of hot mush ” 

“ Bet you he’s the fellow Jerry spilled the tea on! ” 
“ All right. I haven’t heard about that. Well, Jor- 
dan puts his foot out as Jerry starts up the steps and 
he falls over it and spills his books. I came along just 
then and waited to see the fur fly. Jerry, though, picks 
up the books and smiles and is going on in when Jor- 
dan says: 'Say, Whitey, can you fight?’ * Why, I 
reckon I can,’ says Jerry, ‘ but I ain’t hankerin’ to.’ 

- I’ll bet you’re not,’ says another chap. ‘ Never saw 
a towhead yet that had any scrap in him.’ ‘Well, I 
ain’t what you’d call agin it,’ says Jerry, mighty 
sweetly. ‘ If any of you fellers is spoilin’ for a fight, 
I’m right obligin’. Tell you what, now, I’ll take the 
38 


THE HAZING 


biggest one first and then kind of work down to the 
little shoat that tripped me up/ That made a hit with 
them, all except Jordan, and he didn’t like being called 
a shoat. * Pick your man, Country/ some one called, 
and Jerry pointed. 4 I’ll meet him first/ he says. 
4 Take him all around, I guess he’s the biggest of you.’ 
Who do you suppose he meant ? ” 

Tom, smiling, shook his head. 

44 Norris ! Well, they all got to laughing then, and 
Norrie, who had just been looking on, didn’t take to the 
idea at all! And that ended it. ISome fellow told 
Jerry he was all right and they let him alone and he 
grinned and went on inside. Jordan made believe he 
wanted to go after him, but I noticed he didn’t start 
until Jerry was out of sight! Now what about spilling 
the tea? ” 

Jerry was still 44 wrastlin’ ” with his Latin when Tom 
got back to the room after basketball practice. He 
had removed his shoes, too, during Tom’s absence, and 
looked, on the whole, as though he had spent a strenu- 
ous hour and a half. But he declared that he 44 reck- 
oned he was gettin’ the best of the thing ! ” 

After supper Jerry didn’t show up in the corridor, 
although a glance at his table proved he had finished 
and left, and, after waiting a few minutes, Tom went 
over to Follen House to see Anson Lord, who, besides 


39 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

being the President of the First Class, was captain of 
the Nine. An hour’s talk of the baseball prospects 
and plans brought the time to almost eight. Back in 
Number 7 Baldwin, Tom found only an empty room, 
with no signs of recent occupancy. There was, how- 
ever, a note propped up on the table against the base! 
of the lamp, and Tom expected to find a line from 
Jerry explaining his whereabouts. Instead, however, 
it was signed “ C. Falk.’’ Charles Falk, although a 
member of Tom’s class, was not a very close acquaint- 
ance, and Tom’s countenance expressed curiosity as he 
read the message. 

“ Dear Hartley : Some of the fellows are plan- 
ning to haze that new fellow that’s rooming with you 
to-night. I don’t know any more. Thought you 
might like to know. Keep me out of it.” 

Tom frowned as he stuffed the note in his pocket. 
Hazing, although strictly against the written laws of 
North Bank School, was sometimes indulged in. Usu- 
ally it was mild in character and more a matter of fun 
than discipline. And usually it occurred at the be- 
ginning of the school year in September. But he didn’t 
doubt that Falk’s information was correct. There 
were plenty of fellows in school who would welcome 
such a subject as Jerry Benson for their attentions. 

40 


THE HAZING 


In fact, Tom wondered a little that the contingency 
had not occurred to him. He was not greatly worried, 
for, after all, the hazing wouldn’t be severe and Jerry 
had, he thought, proved fairly able to fight his own 
battles. But, after a minute of indecision, Tom put 
his cap on again and went unhurriedly downstairs. 

Affairs of the sort were generally held in one of two 
places: either in the stable or down along the river. 
As the night was inclined to be chill, Tom decided that 
the stable was the more likely scene and so, passing 
around the comer of the house, he bent his steps across 
the grass toward where, close to the western boundary 
of the grounds, a dark object showed against the row 
of poplars along the fence. The fact that no lights 
showed didn’t fool him, for once or twice in his first 
year he had taken part in ceremonies there, and he 
knew that a lantern or two in the back room of the 
stable showed no glimmer in front. He went quietly 
as he neared the building and skirted the gravel road 
carefully. 

The farther end of the stable held the carriage room, 
large enough to accommodate the Doctor’s small auto- 
mobile and the three-seated vehicle that carried the 
students to and from the station. At the nearer cor- 
ner, where Tom halted in the darkness, were the stalls. 
In the rear was a fairly large room used for harness 
4i 


[THREE-BASE BENSON 

and the litter that usually accumulates about a stable. 
There was a stove there, but to-night there was no fire 
in it, as Tom saw when, peering in under the edge of 
an ancient carriage curtain that had been hung over 
the end window in lieu of a shade, he surveyed the 
scene inside. Two lanterns threw a dim and uncertain 
light about the room and on the faces of the dozen or 
more boys there. As Tom had suspected, they were 
all second class fellows save one, and most of them 
he knew. Somewhat to his surprise, Wayne Sortwell 
was not of their number. Purves Jordan, the boy 
whom Jerry had alluded to as “the little shoat,” ap- 
peared to be in charge of the ceremonies. The one 
occupant of the room not a second class fellow was, of 
course, Jerry Benson. 

)When Tom applied his eyes to the aperture between 
curtain and window frame Jerry held the floor and the 
others faced him in a half circle. To his relief, Tom 
observed that, so far at least, the hazing was good- 
natured on both sides. The subject was singing. Tom 
couldn’t hear the words, or but an occasional one, and 
the tune, if it deserved the name, sounded particularly 
funereal. From the laughter and frequent applause, 
however, the performance appeared to make a hit. 
Only Jordan, a tall, supercilious looking boy of seven- 
teen, who wore spectacles over a pair of smallish eyes, 
42 


THE HAZING 


seemed displeased. Jordan was frowning. Jerry 
ended his croon soon after Tom’s arrival and bowed 
jerkily, and the audience clapped enthusiastically and 
cried “ More! ” Jerry made a reply of some sort, ran 
his fingers through his abbreviated locks and started 
off again. Jordan scowled and kicked impatiently at 
the oat bin against which he leaned. When Jerry had 
again finished Jordan demanded a dance. 

“ Come on, Whitey ! 'Kick your heels for us ! Let’s 
see some action ! ” 

Jerry shook his head smilingly. Presumably he de- 
nied any ability of the sort suggested, for Jordan moved 
forward threateningly. 

“ Never you mind whether you can or can’t, you 
tow-headed North Carolina cracker! You try! Get 
that whip there, Gus. That’s the ticket ! ” 

Jordan flicked a long-lashed coach whip in uncom- 
fortable proximity to Jerry’s legs. Jerry remained un- 
moved and several of the fellows protested. Tom 
heard one boy say : “ Oh, let him be, Skinny ! He’s 

all right! Lay off him now!” But Jordan only 
grinned and swung the lash again, and this time it 
flicked Jerry’s legs. Tom, watching anxiously now, 
saw Jerry stiffen and turn toward the tormentor, and 
for the first time he spoke loud enough to be heard out- 
side the closed window. 


43 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ I told you I can’t dance, and I mean it. And I 
ain’t going to. I’ve done what you fellers asked me 
and I’m getting kind of tired. Reckon you ain’t aimin’ 
at havin’ no unpleasantness.” 

Jerry spoke firmly, but amiably still, and some good- 
natured laughter greeted his pronouncement. But 
Jordan sneered and drew the whip back. “ You do as 
we tell you, Tarheels! You dance or you’ll be made 
to ! Quick ! ” The lash swung again, this time with 
more force, and wound itself around Jerry’s frayed 
trouser legs. 

For an understanding of what happened next, hap- 
pened so suddenly, in fact, as to leave Tom gasping 
and blinking outside the casement, it should be stated 
that the door by which they had entered was in the 
back wall of the building, some ten feet from where 
Jerry stood, and that between it and him several sizable 
youths intervened. Also, that of the two lanterns one 
rested on the floor beside the stove and the other hung 
from a harness hook just over Jerry’s head. 

The instant the whiplash encircled Jerry’s legs he 
dealt a swift blow to the lantern above him. There 
were cries and the sound of breaking glass as the lan- 
tern, leaving its hook, shot across the room and crashed 
against a farther wall. The fraction of a second later 
Jerry’s foot mistook the other lantern for a football 
44 


THE HAZING 


and black darkness fell! After that pandemonium 
reigned supreme. Tom heard cries and thuds and 
crashes, and the shrill voice of Jordan imploring all 
and sundry to “ Stop him, fellows ! Don’t let him get 
to the door! ” But Jerry was already at the door, it 
seemed, for Tom heard it slam mightily and then nar- 
rowly avoided collision with a swiftly-moving figure 
that hurtled around the comer, laughing joyously as it 
went, and disappeared toward Baldwin ! 

Grinning broadly himself, Tom fled after, aware of 
pursuing footsteps until he was within the light that 
fell from the windows of the House. Once there, the 
pursuit halted behind him. He heard laughter and 
mutters in the darkness beyond the illumination, and, 
as he thought, the voice of Jordan snarling recrimina- 
tions on his faithless henchmen. Jerry had vanished, 
but Tom found him a moment later when he tried the 
door of Number 7, found it locked, gave his name and 
was admitted. 

Jerry, still smiling, had laid aside coat and vest and 
was already applying first aid to a lacerated cheek. 

“ Well,” asked Tom, simulating surprise, “ where 
have you been? And what’s happened to your face? ” 

“ Fellers caught me after supper and took me over to 
the stable yonder,” explained Jerry easily. “ Asked 
me to sing and I sung. Then they wanted me to dance 
45 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


and I wouldn’t. Feller in glasses swung a rawhide 
at me and I left.” 

“ I see,” said Tom, dryly. “ And when you left you 
scraped your face against the door?” 

“ Scraped it against some feller’s fist, I reckon,” cor- 
rected Jerry. “ Two, three of ’em aimed to stop me.” 

Tom seated himself in a chair and gave way to 
laughter. Jerry smiled amiably back. He thought it 
pretty funny himself, although he couldn’t understand 
why Tom was so amused. After a moment the latter 
recovered enough to ask with some severity : “ Didn’t 

you know those lanterns might have set fire to the 
stable, you crazy chump ? ” 

“Huh? Where were you?” demanded Jerry in 
surprise. 

Tom explained, and when he had finished Jerry an- 
swered the question. k ‘ Those lanterns always go out 
when you knock ’em over,” he said untroubledly. 

“ Anyway, I reckon there was enough of those fellers 
to put a fire out ! ” He began to chuckle then. 

" Reckon that was a right surprised bunch when the 
light went out ! ” 

“If they were half as surprised as I was,” com- 
mented Tom, “ they sure were \ How did they happen 
to nab you, Jerry? ” 

“ Feller came along while I was waitin’ for you in 
46 


THE HAZING 


the hall and said you wanted to see me outside. I’d 
seen you at the table a minute before, but I didn’t think 
but what maybe you’d got by when I wasn’t looking. 
So I went out and there was a gang of ’em at the 
comer and they grabbed me. They were sort of laugh- 
ing and I reckoned it was just a joke and didn’t put up 
any scrap. So it was, a joke, till that razorback with 
the spectacles got sassy with the whip. Before that 
I sung ’em all the songs I knowed — knew, and they 
were just enjoying themselves and I didn’t mind for 
shucks. But, golly, I wasn’t aimin’ to be any man’s 
mule, Tom! Maybe I was too hasty, but he got me 
sort of mad before that callin’ me ‘ cracker ’ and ‘ tow- 
head ’ and such things. Think I ought to have been 
more — more patient, Tom?” 

“ No, I don’t,” laughed Tom. “ You did just right, 
Jerry. Only, you ought to have handed Jordan a jolt 
on the way out ! ” 

“ Oh, I didn’t scrap none,” Jerry assured him ear- 
nestly. “ I just was aimin’ to get out of there. I 
didn’t punch nobody at all, I just brushed by ’em.” 

“ I’ll bet you did ! I heard you * brushing ’ ! ” 

“ Reckon they’ll be after me again to-morrow?” 
asked Jerry. 

“ No, they’ve had enough, I think. Don’t you 


worry. 


47 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“I wasn’t aimin’ to do no — any worriting,” re- 
sponded the other calmly. “ I was just ponderin’.” 

“About what?” inquired Tom, smiling broadly. 

“ About that feller with the whip. Did you-all say 
his name was Jordan? Well, I wouldn’t want to have 
any ruckus with him, because he don’t look right strong 
and healthy. Reckon he is?” Jerry viewed Tom 
with calm inquiry. “ I wouldn’t want to do him any 
damage.” 

“ He won’t give you a chance, Jerry. He doesn’t 
want to fight. He’s just brave when he’s got a crowd 
around him. Here, you better let me doctor that cut 
for you. On the whole, son, you got off pretty 
cheap ! ” 


CHAPTER V 

JERRY SPENDS SOME MONEY 

S OME one, not Jerry, told of the hazing episode, 
for not later than the following afternoon the 
story was all over school and fellows were 
laughing uproariously. A story always gains from 
retelling, and this one was no exception, and those who 
had taken part in the event at the stable came in for 
a lot of ragging. Most of them accepted it with good 
grace, but Jordan proved extremely touchy and more 
than once lost his temper completely. Jerry Benson 
became an object of even greater interest than before, 
but now it was not his strange attire or uncouth ap- 
pearance that focused the limelight of publicity on him, 
but a suddenly won reputation for nerve and resource- 
fulness. The third class hailed him as a hero, for had 
he not, alone and unarmed, defeated the machinations 
of a dozen second class oppressors? The consensus 
of school opinion was to the effect that the handful of 
hazers deserved the ridicule that, for a time at least, 
would pursue them. After all, hazing was not only 
discountenanced by the faculty but by the student body 
49 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


itself, and those who attempted it — especially if un- 
successfully — could count on little sympathy. The 
fact that a far more cordial feeling existed toward 
him on his return from Baltimore that Saturday after- 
noon was unnoted by Jerry, but Tom felt the differ- 
ence and surmised the reason for it and was glad. 

That Baltimore trip had resulted in the acquisition 
by Jerry of a new outfit from head to toes ; hat, collars, 
ties, shirts, a neat dark brown suit, socks and shoes. 
The sum total of his expenditures was $50.30. This 
included his car fares but not the forty-four cents that 
went for chocolate nut sundaes. The sundaes were 
Tom’s contribution to the day’s program. Needless 
to say, Jerry’s fifty dollars was exhausted, and the 
thirty cents that went with it came from a small store 
of coins left from his travel money. But, after the 
first few minutes, Jerry had proved a good spender, 
even a reckless one. More than once Tom had had 
to restrain his enthusiasm for brightly-hued socks or 
rainbow cravats, and there had been five long minutes 
during which the fate of hat and shoes had hung in the 
balance while Jerry had hovered in fascination about a 
gorgeous bath robe that looked for all the world like 
the state costume of an Apache chief. Once embarked 
on a career of spending, Jerry cast discretion to the 
winds, and only the fact that his entire cash resources 
50 


JERRY SPENDS SOME MONEY 


were represented by the figures $52.27 saved him from 
the bath robe, a raincoat, a crimson silk muffler, a 
blue-and-yellow sweater and a pair of white buckskin 
shoes labeled “ For the Southern Traveler/’ The boys 
returned by the four o’clock “ Limited ” entirely sur- 
rounded by packages. 

On the way from station to school, the burdens 
equally divided between them, Jerry observed with 
deep satisfaction : “ Well, I reckon I won’t have to 

buy nary other thing for a right smart spell,” and 
looked to Tom for confirmation. Tom’s silence at last 
impressed him as ominous and he asked anxiously: 
“ Ain’t that so, Tom?” 

The other pursed his lips and did his best to break 
the news gently. “ Well, you’re pretty well fixed, 
Jerry,” he answered kindly, “ but, of course, there may 
be a few little things later.” 

“ Same as which? ” asked Jerry perturbedly. 

“ Well, you ought to have a cap, for one thing. 
That Fedora is all right for Sunday and dress up, but 
the fellows generally wear caps around school.” 

“ You didn’t say anything about any cap,” challenged 
Jerry. 

“ They don’t have them in Baltimore, You get them 
in Annapolis. There’s a store over there has them 
made for the school.” 


5i 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

“ How much do they cost ? ” 

“ A dollar seventy-five.” 

Jerry breathed relief. “ Reckon I can stand that, 
if there ain’t any hurry about it. I’ll have to draw 
some money out of the bank at home first, though. 
Anything else, Tom?” 

“ N-no, not right now. When warm weather comes 
you’ll need a straw and, maybe, a couple of pairs of 
white flannel trousers and a bathing suit and ” 

“ Reckon you’d better quit right there,” interrupted 
Jerry. “ I’m feelin’ plumb bankrupt just listenin’ to 
you! What for those flannel pants, Tom? ” 

“ Oh, everything : tennis, if you play it, and ” 

“ I don’t play tennis, leastways I never did. I don’t 
play anything except, maybe, baseball a little.” 

“Baseball!” Tom became instantly interested. 
“ How much baseball have you played ? ” he demanded. 

“ I’ve played right smart of baseball. I reckon us 
fellers don’t play it like you-all, but we have pretty 
good fun.” 

“Where did you play? I mean, what position?” 

“ Me? Oh, I play ’most anywhere. I ain’t carin’.” 

“Just like that, eh?” laughed Tom. “Well, then, 
what position do you play best? What do you like 
to do most? ” 


52 


JERRY SPENDS SOME MONEY 


“ Bat,” replied Jerry promptly. “ I was a right 
smart batter.” 

“ Well, that sounds promising,” answered Tom 
amusedly. “ We need a few right smart batters here, 
Jerry. Guess you’d better report for practice next 
month.” 

“ Reckon I’d have any show ? Reckon they’d let me 
play with ’em?” 

“ They will if you can hit the ball, Jerry. Tell you 
what, we’ll get a bat and a ball some day and have a 
tryout. Want to?” 

“ Yes, but I got to tell you I ain’t much good on 
curves, Tom. You pitch me a straight ball and I’ll 
whang it, but those curves has me fooled.” 

“ All right,” Tom laughed, “ I’ll feed you straight 
ones, at first anyway. If you can hit a straight ball 
now, Jerry, you’ll be able to hit curves later. How’s 
your throwing arm ? ” 

“ Mean can I throw a ball? Pretty good, I reckon. 
I got to tell you fair, Tom, I ain’t a professional.” 

“ If you were you couldn’t play here,” said Tom. 
“If you’re willing to learn, Jerry, and try your level 
best, why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got on one 
of the teams. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” 

“Sure would! Reckon I’d try all right, Tom. 
And” — he stopped and viewed his companion anx- 
53 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


iously over the bundle that was balanced under his 
chin — “ say, would I have to buy me a baseball outfit 
if I played ?” 

“ I’m afraid you would, Jerry! ” 

Jerry’s face fell. “ Golly, it costs a heap to get edu- 
cated, don’t it?” he murmured. 

“ Twelve dollars will buy everything you’ll have to 
have,” said Tom, soothingly. “ Anyway, we’ll have a 
tryout soon and see what happens. Maybe we — 
you’d decide to put off trying for the team until next 
year.” 

But the tryout didn’t materialize for more than a 
fortnight and so Jerry’s baseball ability remained a 
mystery. The following Monday the mid-year exam- 
inations commenced and Tom was much too busy — 
and, if truth were told, anxious — to recall his promise. 
Fortunately for Jerry, he was exempt, for he was hav- 
ing quite all he could do to maintain his class stand- 
ing. He toiled like a Trojan, however, a fact recog- 
nized by the insrtuctors and placed to his credit against 
a debit of many failures. But he made progress, even 
if it was so slow at first as to be scarcely visible. After 
the first week or so his companions stopped laughing 
at his mistakes in class, partly, perhaps, because they 
were fewer and less amusing. That fortnight and 
more of examination periods helped him vastly, for it 
54 


JERRY SPENDS SOME MONEY 


gave him the opportunity to study without the con- 
tinual interruptions of recitations. By the first of 
February, by which time mid-years were over and done 
with, Jerry was, so to speak, firmly established on his 
feet. Latin was still a bugaboo and algebra seriously 
interfered with the growth of his hair, but in the other 
third class courses he was holding his own quite worth- 
ily, to the satisfaction of his instructors and Mr. Led- 
yard, the latter watching the lad’s progress with a 
sympathetic interest unsuspected by any save Tom. 

Tom had not forgotten the school secretary’s invi- 
tation to consult him on matters pertaining to Jerry’s 
welfare and progress, but so far no problem important 
enough to require advice had presented itself, and only 
once had Tom and Mr. Ledyard discussed Jerry, the 
occasion being a chance encounter on the campus. Mr. 
Ledyard had referred smilingly to the hazing episode, 
carefully avoiding the appearance of having official 
cognizance of it, and had dryly remarked that he 
thought any one picking Benson for an easy mark 
would find they had a Tartar. “ Those eyes of his, 
Hartley, tell a lot more than his words do,” he said. 
“ What does he do for amusement ? Do sports appeal 
to him?” 

“ So far his chief amusement seems to be studying,” 
answered Tom. “ He’s having a pretty stiff time of it, 
55 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


I guess. I suppose he doesn’t know how to study yet. 
There is a good deal in knowing how, don’t you think, 
sir?” 

“ I certainly do. You can use a lot of waste effort 
in studying, just as you can in doing anything else. 
That will come to him, though. Meanwhile he appears 
to be keeping his end up remarkably well for a boy 
who has never had real teaching before. I was look- 
ing at his reports this morning and I was really sur- 
prised. But he ought to have something outside of 
his studies to interest him, Hartley, something to take 
his mind off them, in fact. How about basketball ? ” 

“ I don’t think so, sir. He would’nt make good 
there. He’s pretty awkward yet, and awfully muscle- 
bound. I guess his gym work will take that out of 
him, though. He told me once that he liked baseball 
and had played it some. I’m going to try to get him 
started in that as soon as we get going again.” 

“ Fine idea! I wouldn’t wonder if he proved rather 
good at it, Hartley. Ever notice how many really 
good players are country boys? The genuine raw- 
boned, fall-over-their-own-feet kind, I mean.” 

Tom laughed. “ I haven’t noticed it, sir, but maybe 
you’re right.” 

“ Well,” Mr. Ledyard smiled, “ you’re not a case in 
56 


JERRY SPENDS SOME MONEY 


point, and that’s a fact. You’re one of our best, Hart- 
ley, and you’re a city boy, I reckon.” 

“ Sort of a small city boy, sir, so I don’t prove the 
argument or disprove it. But I’d like mighty well to 
see Jerry make good at baseball, and I’m going to help 
him all I can. He’s an awfully decent, straight chap, 
Mr. Ledyard, and as clean as a whistle. And the way 
he picks up things is a marvel.” 

“ What sort of things do you refer to? ” 

“ Well, all sorts, sir. Take his way of talking. Of 
course, I liked it. I thought it was sort of — of amus- 
ing. But it was pretty ungrammatical, and lots of the 
fellows made fun of him and called him ‘ Tarheel ’ and 
all sorts of names. Well, he’s improved about a hun- 
dred per cent already in his talk ; talks like any of the 
other Southern chaps now, I guess. And then there 
are lots of other things, like not using a toothpick and 

— and using a handkerchief ” 

“ You mean that when he came he didn’t — er ” 

“Not at first.” Tom smiled deprecatingly. “ He 
didn’t know any better, I guess. But he catches on 
mighty quick, sir.” 

“ Yes, I thought he was that sort. Well, I’m very 
glad he’s shaping up so well, Hartley. And I reckon 
you’re to thank for a great deal of it. I wouldn’t be 
one bit surprised if you and I and the school — and 
57 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


maybe his country, too — were right proud of him 
some day. You see, I think there’s a lot in that boy ! ” 
“ So do I, sir,” agreed Tom earnestly. “ And I be- 
lieve he does, too ; and that’s, even more important, I 
guess ! ” 


CHAPTER VI 

THE TRYOUT 

W INTER in Maryland that year was un- 
usually severe, and all through the latter 
part of January and well in February cold 
weather prevailed, with snow and ice enough to make 
winter sports possible. There was skating on the inlet 
for several weeks and half a dozen impromptu hockey 
teams combated for supremacy. Tom, who had 
learned skating on the frozen Hudson, captained the 
“ Terrors,” and, largely because of his ability on the 
steel runners and his superior knowledge of the game, 
the “ Terrors ” virtually captured the school cham- 
pionship, although the " Wanderers,” formed of first 
class fellows from McCrea House, disputed their claim. 
Tom had successfully completed arrangements for a 
game with a team from Brackett School, in Baltimore, 
when a change of weather came and the ice, hard and 
firm one day, was mush and slush the next. That 
ended the skating season, for, although there was more 
cold and another snowstorm a week later, the inlet 
never again that winter presented a safe surface. 

59 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


It was nearly the middle of February when Tom 
made good his promise to give Jerry a tryout. The 
ball field was too soft underfoot for use and so, one 
afternoon, the two descended to the batting cage in the 
basement of the gymnasium building, The cage was 
not large enough to be very practical, but it answered 
well enough for pitching and bunting. Tom, pulling 
off his sweater, warned Jerry against “ slugging.” 
“ Just meet the ball, Jerry,” he said, “ If you lam 
it you’re likely to knock my bean off ! ” 

So Jerry agreed to be gentle and Tom lobbed over 
some slow ones and Jerry swung very gingerly at them. 
The result was that he failed to connect with any. 
“ What’s the matter? ” he demanded. “ They ain’t — 
aren’t curves^ are they? ” 

“ Of course not,” answered Tom. “ The matter is 
that you bring your bat around so slow that the ball’s 
past before you get there. Swing quicker, but hold 
your bat loosely as if you were bunting. And swing 
shorter, too. Don’t hold your bat away around like 
that. Here, I’ll show you.” Tom illustrated, and 
Jerry, now somewhat vague of movement and unsettled 
in his mind, strove to profit by the advice given him. 
He hit one now and then, but seldom squarely, and at 
last he shook his head. 

“ I reckon I ain’t much good at this parlor baseball,” 
60 


THE TRYOUT 


he announced a trifle disgustedly. “ Reckon if we 
were outdoors where you could speed ’em over I’d man- 
age to bust a few, Tom.” 

“ Busting them’s all right,” answered the other, “ but 
it’s well to know how to bunt them, too. The main 
thing, Jerry, is to be able to hit them. I’m putting 
these right over the plate and you’d ought to be able 
to get your bat in front of every one of them. You 
pitch me a few and I’ll show you how it’s done.” 

They changed places and Jerry threw a straight, slow 
ball. Tom, without any swing, caught it on the face 
of his bat and sent it rolling back to the pitcher. He 
did the same thing a dozen times. Not once was Jerry 
able to get the ball against the wire net at the end of 
the cage. 

“ That,” said Tom, “ is the best practice there is for 
a batter. You learn to watch the ball and keep your 
eye on it until the last instant, and whether you’re 
going to lay down a bunt in front of the plate or roll 
one down the base line or bust out a home run you’ve 
got to know where the ball is coming. Want to try it 
again ? ” 

“Yes,” replied Jerry thoughtfully. “I reckon I 
see how it’s done now. You don’t swing none, Tom. 
All you do is hold your bat out and let the ball hit 
it!” 

61 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ That’s about it,” Tom laughed. “ Here you are. 
Show me.” 

Jerry wasn’t as successful as his companion, but he 
did fairly well, on the whole, and better yet when he 
was at last able to resist his desire to take a long swing. 
Then Tom instructed him how to hold his bat loosely 
so that the ball would drop almost dead in front of 
him. “ But don’t try to bunt low ones, Jerry,” he 
warned. “ If you do you’re likely to pop one up in the 
air and the catcher or pitcher will get it. High ones 
are the best to ‘ lay down.’ I’ll show you what I mean. 
Here’s a low one. Try to bunt it.” 

Jerry did, and missed it entirely. And so with the 
second. But he found the next offer, and it went al- 
most straight in air, bounded from the netting over- 
head and landed back on top of his head! 

“See what I mean?” laughed Tom. And Jerry, 
rubbing the spot where the ball had hit, ruefully “ reck- 
oned ” he did. After a few more tries, they tossed 
the bat aside and Tom showed Jerry a few “ hooks ” 
and “ floaters ” and a “ drop ” that wasn’t half bad. 
Tom wasn’t much of a pitcher, but he had some de- 
liveries that were novel to his audience. Some ludi- 
crous efforts by Jerry to emulate the other ended the 
program. By that time they had warmed themselves 
up in good shape, and Tom discovered that the small 
62 


THE TRYOUT 


amount of pitching he had done had “ caught ” the 
unaccustomed muscles of his right arm. They wan- 
dered off then to the showers, a form of ablution un- 
known to Jerry, and a moment later a fearful howl 
from the next bath apprised Tom of the fact that all 
was not well there. 

“ What's the matter? ” he shouted above the hiss of 
the water. 

“ Matter! " replied Jeriy aggrievedly from the cor- 
ridor. “ Why, I'm boiled alive! What sort of a con- 
traption you call that?" 

Tom put his head out and viewed an indignant and 
unclothed Jerry hopping about on alternate feet, while 
from the bath came a cloud of steam. Jerry was cer- 
tainly somewhat red about the shoulders but, fortu- 
nately, he had not remained under the shower long 
enough to get scalded. Tom tried not to laugh as he 
went to the rescue and turned the water off, but the 
attempt wasn't wholly successful, and Jerry, still smart- 
ing about the shoulders, observed him disgruntledly. 

“ I ain’t going in there no more," he declared firmly 
if ungrammatically. “Golly, I mighty nigh burned 
the hide off me ! " 

“ I told you not to turn the hot water faucet," pro- 
tested Tom. “ Can’t you read, you silly goop ? Here, 
try that now. Come on, it won't hurt you. You 
63 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

ought to take it plumb cold, but if it’s your first shower 
maybe you’d better not.” 

Jerry finally allowed himself to be persuaded and 
Tom returned to his bath and listened smilingly to the 
gasps and grunts that came over the partition. While 
he was drying himself with one of Tom’s towels a 
minute or two later, Jerry acknowledged that shower 
baths had their merits. “ They sure do make a feller 
feel good,” he said. “ Reckon I’ll get me some towels 
in my locker so’s I can do it again, Tom.” 

The baseball candidates were called for the last Sat- 
urday in the month, although just now there seemed 
little prospect of outdoor practice then. On the Thurs- 
day before the first gathering, however, Tom brought 
the cheering report that the field was almost dry, and, 
as the weather had been mild and sunny for more than 
a fortnight and promised to remain so, it began to look 
as if the period of indoor work would be brief. That 
afternoon Tom and Jerry had another bout of batting 
practice, but this time they went over to a comer of 
the baseball field where a big batting net stood. Al- 
ready in places the grass was green close to the earth 
and the warmth of the sun gave promise of spring. 

“ Don’t go and bust them, Jerry,” cautioned the 
other, “ because if you do you’ll have to chase them. 
Just hit them easy.” 


64 


THE TRYOUT 


So Jerry hit them easy and did fairly well until 
Tom began to sneak some curves over. Jerry swung 
wildly at several before it dawned on him that Tom 
was playing a joke on him. Then he smiled a little, 
with his eyes mostly, gripped his bat further back and 
waited. As the next ball sped toward him he glued 
his gaze to it until it was almost to him and swung 
mightily. There was a resounding crack and the 
sphere went arching off across the field ! 

Tom turned to watch it in silence. It would have 
been good for three clean bases in a game unless a 
fielder had managed to get his hands on it. Jerry 
seated himself on the ground and met Tom’s look very 
placidly when the latter at last swung about to view 
him. Tom looked the least bit silly and not a little 
surprised. 

“ I told you not to lam them,” he said. “You go 
and get that, son.” 

But Jerry shook his head untroubledly. “Reckon 
that’s your fault,” he explained. “If that had been 
a straight ball, like you was — were supposed to give 
me, it wouldn’t have gone away off there, Tom. 
Reckon it’s up to you, neighbor! ” 

Tom grinned, hesitated and ajc last set off on his 
errand. Luckily, a small fourth class youth was cross- 
ing the field and saved Tom half the journey, and the 
65 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


latter entered into negotiations with him when he threw 
the ball back. “ Say, kid, want to field some for us ? ” 
The boy did and said so eagerly. He happened to be 
one of Tom’s devoted admirers, although the fact was 
not known to Tom. “ All right then. Stick around 
about where you are and I'll let Benson whack them 
as hard as he likes! Much obliged.” 

The boy, who would have chased balls tirelessly all 
the afternoon without thanks, and considered it a privi- 
lege, was almost overcome with mingled pleasure and 
embarrassment, and later on that day recounted the 
Great Adventure many times to his cronies in Follen 
House. 

“ The kid’s going to field for us,” called Tom as he 
came back to the mound. “ So you can hit them where 
you like, you wild Indian, Only don’t shoot ’em 
through the box! What’ll you have now? Straight 
ones or curves? I’ve got everything there is, son. 
Name your shot ! ” 

“ Give me anything you like,” answered Jerry 
grimly. “ I’ve got my batting eye to-day ! ” 

“ Fine! ” jeered Tom. “ Hit this one, Babe Ruth! ” 

This one happened to be a slow ball that fooled 
Jerry badly, but he only smiled as he tossed the ball 
back, and gripped his bat more firmly. Again he 
swung, and a weak foul resulted. Then came two 
66 


THE TRYOUT 


clean misses and, at last, a scratch hit that Tom fielded 
himself. Curves and floaters and such deceptions 
were too much for the batsman, and at last he had to 
acknowledge it. 

“ I can’t hit those things yet, Tom,” he pleaded. 
“ Give me some straight ones, will you ? ” 

“ Sure,” laughed Tom, “ but you’ve got to learn to 
hit the curves, too, Jerry, before you run your batting 
average up to three hundred! Here you are, son. 
Bust it!” 

And Jerry certainly busted it! The ball went well 
over the head of the volunteer fielder and would have 
cleared the bases nicely had there been any bases to 
clear. Tom looked after the ball and then turned to 
Jerry approvingly. “ That was a whingdinger, Jerry,” 
he said. ft You certainly can lace out the straight 
ones ! ” 

When the ball came back Tom offered another with 
nothing on it and which, being breast-high, Jerry sent 
into deep left field with the speed of a cannon ball. 
“ That’s better,” said Tom. “ It’s the liners that count. 
But, look here, you always hit into left field. Can you 
put one into right or through center? ” 

Jerry looked doubtful. “ Reckon I’d have to face 
different, wouldn’t I ? ” he asked. 

“ No, but you’ve got to meet the ball later. If you 

67 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


hit the ball before it’s opposite you it’s going into left 
field; that is, if you’re a right-hand hitter, which you 
are. If you hit it when it’s dead in front of you it 
will go into center field. If it gets a little way past you 
before you hit it, it will go to right field. At least, 
that’s the theory. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t work 
out that way. You’ve got a good, clean swing, son, 
and don’t ‘ chop,’ but I don’t believe you gain anything 
by holding your bat so far behind you. You have to 
bring it around a pretty long way before you meet the 
ball, and I’d say that it increased your chance of miss- 
ing. Still, if you’re used to hitting like that maybe 
you’d better not try to change ; anyway, not yet. Now 
try to drive this into right field.” 

Perhaps because he was so intent on meeting the 
ball late, Jerry missed it entirely. But a second at- 
tempt proved slightly better, for, although the ball 
didn’t go into right field, it at least went to the right 
of left field, and Jerry was encouraged to try again. 
The next effort resulted in a pop fly that Tom ran 
under. Then a low delivery was hit squarely on the 
end of the bat and described a high arc into right field. 

“A nice Texas Leaguer!” called Tom. “ Want 
any more ? ” 

“ Yes, if you-all ain’t tired. I’d like to see can I 
make them go where I want them to. I ain’t never 
68 


THE TRYOUT 


aimed to put them anywhere in particular before.” 

“ Well, I guess I’m good for a dozen more before 
the old whip gives out,” laughed Tom. “ I warn you, 
though, that I’m going to mix in a few slow ones now 
and then, Jerry, so watch out for ’em.” 

Jerry’s “ form ” at the plate might well have elicited 
criticism. He stood away from the rubber with his 
feet spread far apart and the bat well behind him. It 
wasn’t a graceful posture. When he swung, he 
brought the bat around with a mighty sweep that com- 
pletely carried him off his feet and, when he missed, 
left him facing third base. If he was so fortunate as 
to meet the ball he was already a stride or two on his 
way to first by the time the sphere was in flight. One 
thing he did not do, however, and Tom noted it with 
satisfaction. He did not, having taken his stance, shift 
his feet about or swing his bat in useless flourishes or 
once take his eyes from the front. But Tom smiled 
a little to think what Keegan, the coach, would say to 
Jerry when he observed his batting style! 

The slow ones still fooled Jerry badly. He man- 
aged to get to every one, but the result in each case 
was unprofitable. Usually the ball, since Jerry struck 
too early, trickled away outside what would have been 
the third base line had they been on a diamond. But 
Jerry caught most of the groove balls and sent them 
69 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


far afield, and the small boy in attendance was kept 
very busy indeed. To some extent Jerry found that 
he could give direction to his hits, and the fact opened 
a new and fascinating field of endeavor. As Tom 
pointed out on their way to the gymnasium, a batter 
who invariably hit to the same place, no matter how 
surely he hit or how far he made the ball travel, was 
at a disadvantage, for the opponent would shift its 
outfield to meet him. 

“ If the side needs a run with men on bases,” said 
Tom, “ that kind of a hitter is mighty useful, because, 
although he flies out himself, he brings in a run, so long 
as there aren’t two men out already. But he doesn't 
generally get a regular position on the team. He sticks 
around the bench as a pinch hitter. And he has to be 
pretty good at his job to be even a pinch hitter, Jerry.” 

“ Reckon there’s a heap more to baseball than I 
knowed — knew about,” said Jerry thoughtfully. 
“ Reckon, though, if I try hard I can learn to ba, the 
way you say, don’t you ? ” 

“ Yes, I do, Jerry. I think you’ve got the making 
of a good batter. I guess I’d better warn you, though, 
that the coach is going to make you change your style 
of batting when he gets here. They have a lot of 
cut-and-dried notions — the coaches, I mean — about 
how a fellow ought to stand at the plate and how he 
70 


THE TRYOUT 


ought to swing the bat and a lot of other things. And 
Keegan’s a great hand for having everything accord- 
ing to Hoyle.” 

“ Who’s he? ” asked Jerry. 

“ Who’s who? Keegan? ” 

“ No, the other feller you said.” 

“ The other— Oh, Hoyle? Well, Hoyle’s a fel- 
low who once wrote a mess of rules for playing cards, 
Jerry, and when you say ‘ according to Hoyle ’ you 
mean according to — to accepted rules, in the regular 
way. Get me ? ” 

“ Hm-hm. I thought maybe he was one of those 
professional baseball players you read about in the 
papers, like that feller Ruth, or Speaker. Reckon a 
feller who plays cards ain’t much account when it comes 
to baseball, Tom. When’s this coach feller get here? ” 

“ In about two weeks, Jerry. He doesn’t come until 
we start outdoors. He’s a mighty decent sort, Keegan, 
and you’ll like him. But don’t ever make the mistake 
of thinking you know better how a thing ought to 
be done than he does, Jerry. Keegan’s all right, but 
he’s a regular martinet. Don’t ever try to argue with 
him.” 

“ I ain’t aimin’ to, Tom,” answered Jerry soberly. 
“ I’m a pretty small pig in this pen, and I’m willin’ to 
grow.” 


CHAPTER VII 
AT THE BATTING NET 

T HE baseball candidates started indoor practice 
on the following Monday. It was dry work 
at first. Anson Lord, called “ Pop ” by his 
intimates, had theories of his own on the subject of 
preliminary preparations, and, as captain of the nine, 
he was in position to carry them out. Lord was, of 
course, a first class fellow, eighteen years of age and 
a crack first baseman. In appearance he was big and 
broad-shouldered, with a rather serious countenance 
lightened by kindly gray eyes and a contagious smile. 
That he was immensely popular goes without saying 
since he was First Class President, an honor that al- 
most invariably went to a crew man at North Bank. 
Indeed, Lord and Loring Browne, who captained and 
rowed Number Two in the boat, had fought a close 
fight for the presidency in the fall. Pop’s prelim- 
inary training methods included tiresome exercises 
with dumb-bells and Indian clubs and even chest 
weights, and there was much grumbling among the 
new candidates. The older ones knew Pop too well 
72 


AT THE BATTING NET 


to demur. Besides, it was always, somehow, a pleas- 
ure to please Anson Lord ! 

Jerry performed uncomplainingly and unfalteringly 
at stunts quite novel to him, although, until Tom ex- 
plained, he couldn't see the connection between swing- 
ing a pair of Indian clubs and playing baseball ! Per- 
haps Tom's explanation was a trifle vague, but Jerry 
was satisfied with it. “ The idea is to limber up your 
muscles, Jerry," said Tom. “ Develop ’em, too. Lots 
of those fellows who are trying for the nine couldn't 
whip a ball from first to third to-day without getting a 
crick in their arms, let alone throwing from deep 
center to second ! All that dumb-bell stuff is to develop 
the wrist and forearm muscles, because, Jerry, you’ve 
just got to be supple there if you’re going to play the 
game right It is tiresome, but it's good for you, son." 

“ Oh, I ain’t complaining none," said Jerry cheer- 
fully. “ I was just pondering." 

“ Well," Tom laughed, “ ponder all you like, Jerry, 
but keep up the good work. I want to see you make 
the second nine, anyway, son. You can do it, too." 

“ Reckon I'd a heap rather make the regular team," 
answered Jerry, “ and I'm agoing to if nothing don’t 
bust!" 

The first day of March found the candidates out- 
doors at last. The frost was out of the ground and 
73 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

a series of warm, sunshiny days with aiding breezes 
had dried the field and made it firm underfoot. Mr. 
Keegan arrived on the fifth of the month, a small, 
slight man, well under thirty, with movements like a 
steel trap and a sharp, decisive voice. But he was 
good-tempered and could laugh as well as frown, and 
the school liked him well enough to go to the little 
station in a body to give him welcome. Although 
Cicero was on hand with his stylish black mules and 
the “hack,” Joe Keegan elected to walk, and so with 
Rodney Keller — familiarly known as “Tub,” foot- 
ball center and baseball catcher — carrying his suit case, 
and Captain Lord and most of the other diamond war- 
riors close about him, Coach Keegan made a fairly 
impressive return to the scene of his duties. There 
was some cheering and singing by the rank and file as 
the procession tramped along the sunlit road, and after- 
wards, from the steps of Ellicot, in which house the 
coach roomed while at the school, Mr. Keegan made 
a short speech which aroused his audience to such a 
pitch of enthusiasm that the few stay-at-homes came 
to their windows and, although unable to hear the 
address, cheered plaintively on every excuse. After 
that the baseball players hustled into their togs and 
were hard at work when the coach, transformed by a 
faded green sweater and a pair of old gray trousers, 
74 


AT THE BATTING NET 


arrived at the field for his first glimpse of the season’s 
material. 

Whether he liked what he saw wasn’t apparent, but 
certain it is that he wasted no time getting into action. 
The experienced players were weeded forth and sent 
to the batting net and the green candidates lined up 
before him in a half circle. Coach Keegan looked 
them over deliberately and carefully during several 
moments of most respectful silence. Then he spoke 
crisply. “ There’s one thing Tm going to have this 
spring, fellows,” he began, “ and that’s instant obedi- 
ence. When I say ‘Jump!' you jump! I’ll forgive 
any of you for stupidity or rotten playing, but the fel- 
low who doesn’t do as he’s told, and do it quick , is going 
to get into a mess of trouble ! I guess I’ve made myself 
plain, haven’t I? All right. Now, the next thing. 
We’re going in for speed this year. We’re going to 
have the fastest team that’s playing ball below Mason 
and Dixon’s Line, fellows. Maybe we aren’t going 
to play as fine an article as some other teams, maybe 
we’re going to be punk, but, good or punk, we’re going 
to be fast! And the next two or three weeks are 
going to be devoted very largely to learning speed. 
If any of you fellows object to moving in a hurry, 
this is a good time to say so gracefully and get out. 
All right. Let’s get busy ! ” 

75 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


When the scant hour of practice was over that aft- 
ernoon every one knew that the coach had come ! 

A fortnight of vigorous preliminary work followed, 
the candidates practicing every week-day afternoon 
save Saturday from three-thirty to five. About forty 
fellows reported that first afternoon and of the number 
thirty-two were still in training a fortnight later, and 
of the thirty-two was Jerry Benson. Jerry was learn- 
ing rather slowly. Teaching speed to him was, it 
seemed at first, a hopeless task. Jerry was deliberative 
of thought and speech and action. Having once 
started, he could travel fast, but he couldn’t shoot away 
from a mark, as some of the fellows could, like a 
sprinter at the sound of the pistol. Many times Coach 
Keegan got after him hard in words of one syllable, 
and at such times Jerry, blinking his blue eyes, took 
the reprimand in good-natured silence and looked so 
evidently anxious to please that the coach’s scolding 
usually ended in a tolerant “ Oh, well, see if you 
can’t get some snap in it, boy ! ” 

Mr. Keegan’s remarks on the occasion of his first 
sight of Jerry at batting practice were not at all what 
Tom had expected and predicted. Jerry had taken his 
turn at the net a number of times before it happened 
that the coach was present. Batting practice for the 
new candidates was under the direction of Rodney 
76 


AT THE BATTING NET 

Keller, and the coach’s supervision was more or less 
superficial. But one afternoon Mr. Keegan came to 
the net at the moment that Jerry stepped out of his 
place in the line of waiting batters, picked up a bat 
and faced Thacher, one of the second-string pitchers. 
Although Tub Keller had conscientiously tried to mold 
Jerry to the established form of batting, he had not, 
in view of the results Jerry was getting, insisted over- 
much, and Jerry’s style had been modified but little; 
in fact, when he got thoroughly interested and quite 
forgot his instructions, he stood back, spread his legs 
widely and caressed his shoulder blades with his bat 
just as he had always done. 

To-day, in spite of Tub’s matter-of-course “ Feet 
together, Jerry!” Jerry spread himself as usual and 
faced Thacher intently, while the waiting line smiled 
or chuckled as they observed the coach’s frown of dis- 
approval. Perhaps had Jerry known that Mr. Keegan 
was looking on he would have conformed more closely 
to the style approved of the coach, but he didn’t. 
Thacher was pitching straight balls, with an occasional 
change of pace for the more adept batters, and his first 
delivery to Jerry was a fast one that cut the outer 
corner of the plate. Jerry started to offer at it, 
changed his mind and watched it go by speculatively. 
He had suspected a break and had been fooled. 

77 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Strike !” droned Tub, as the ball settled into his 
mitt. Mr. Keegan opened his mouth and took a step 
forward, and then, like Jerry, changed his mind and 
waited. Thacher grinned and winked, for he and 
Jerry were getting to be friendly antagonists at the 
net. Jerry answered the smile untroubledly and 
Thacher wound up again. This time it was a slow 
one that floated across knee-high, or would have had 
Jerry not swung and caught it fairly near the end of 
his bat. The ball sailed off in a long, low fly to deep 
center. 

“A peach, Jerry !” said Tub. “ Good for three 
bags, easy.” j 

Thacher grinned as he picked up another ball and 
Jerry dropped the bat and started to take his place at 
the tail end of the line. But Mr, Keegan stopped 
him. 

“ Hold on, Benson! Try another one,” he said. 

Jerry picked up the bat again and, in deference to 
the coach’s presence, placed his feet fairly close to- 
gether, trying to remember all the instructions that 
had been given him by Tub. Thacher, seeking re- 
venge, let loose with a high ball that looked very much 
like a strike to the batsman. Perhaps Jerry’s judgment 
was slightly disturbed by the knowledge that the coach 
was watching. At all events, the ball played a sorry 
78 


AT THE BATTING NET 


trick and Tub had to step well to the right to get it. 
And Jerry swung hard and, having his feet close to- 
gether, spun around like a top and landed at Tub’s 
feet, to the amusement of the audience, including, you 
may be certain, Thacher. Jerry smiled a trifle sheep- 
ishly as he unscrambled himself from Tub, the ball and 
the bat. 

“ Wait a minute,” said Mr. Keegan again. “ Why 
did you change your position that time, Benson ? ” 

Jerry couldn’t find an answer for a long moment. 
Then he said : “ Tub says to put your feet together.” 

“ Does, eh? Well, does he tell you to hold your bat 
behind your back and swing like a hammer-thrower? 
How do you expect to hit anything that way? Don’t 
you know that you can’t swing your arms and your 
body half around the compass and keep your feet to- 
gether ? Now you hit the next one the way you’ve been 
hitting. Stand your own way, boy. Give him an- 
other, Thacher.” 

Jerry felt somewhat embarrassed by so much atten- 
tion, but permission to face the pitcher in his own style 
brought a return of confidence, and when Thacher 
hurled the next delivery, a fast ball right in the groove, 
he put every ounce into the swing and sent that sphere 
on the journey of its young life! Far into left field 
it sped, well behind the nearest fielder ! The audience 
79 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


said “ Wow ! ” and “ Some swipe! ” and Thacher threw 
up his arms in token of surrender. As Jerry walked 
off, after an inquiring look at Mr, Keegan and a nod 
of dismissal, the coach turned to Tub. 

“ How often does he do that? ” he asked the catcher. 

“ About twice out of three times, sir. There doesn’t 
seem to be much use trying to get him to stand 
right. When he does he misses ’em about every 
time.” 

“ I guess you’d better let him hit them the way he 
wants to,” replied the coach. “ What was Thacher 
feeding him? Straight ones?” 

" Yes, sir, mostly. Jerry gets fooled on the hooks.” 

“ Well, see that he gets hooks until they don’t fool 
him. No use wasting time feeding him straight balls. 
The boy’s a batter, and he ought to be taught to take 
everything that comes. Give him the third degree, 
Keller, every time he comes up. Make him hit 
the hard ones. That’s the only way to bring him 
along.” 

So it was that the next time Jerry faced Thacher 
the latter got his instructions to fool the batsman to the 
top of his bent, and those of the squad who secretly 
envied Jerry his ability to “ lace ’em ” laughed glee- 
fully to see him swing helplessly around while a fast 
drop or a wide hook smacked into Tub’s glove. But 
80 


AT THE BATTING NET 


that was just at first and there came a time when 
Thacher again metaphorically if not visually threw up 
his hands in token of submission. But that was much 
later, and before it came other things of moment hap- 
pened. 


CHAPTER VIII 
JERRY HIRES OUT 

N ORTH Bank’s basketball season came to 
an end with the deciding game against Cam- 
bridge Hall which was played in the Sharpies 
Gymnasium and was won by the visitors, 21 to 16. 
Tom and Jerry watched the contest over the balcony 
railing and were very much excited and rooted dili- 
gently with the others to the bitter end. Joe Kirkham, 
who played right forward and who, because Jackson 
was in difficulties with the office as a result of an inher- 
ent objection to studying, was acting captain, made a 
wonderful effort to pull down Cumbridge’s lead in the 
last period and played like a whirlwind. But, although, 
the local five scored eight points to the Dark Blue’s 
three, the latter’s lead was not to be overcome. Joe 
was rather despondent after the game and Tom and 
Jerry lugged him over to Number 7 and fed him maple 
fudge until he had forgotten the defeat. Fudge was 
a weakness of Jerry’s, and the present supply had been 
laid in that afternoon when he and Tom had gone 
across to Annapolis to buy a cap. A few minutes be- 
82 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


fore ten Joe took his departure, comforted in mind and 
body. 

The crew candidates, who had been at work at the 
rowing machines for a fortnight, took the water early 
in March, and the track and field athletes blossomed in 
scanty white raiment whenever a mild day permitted. 
Mild days were becoming frequent, too, by that time, 
and on one of them Jerry, in the interim between a 
ten and an eleven-thirty recitation period, pulled his 
new cap on the back of his tow-colored head in the 
approved fashion and wandered over to the empty 
athletic field. Spring was veritably in the air this 
morning and Jerry experienced dim longings that came 
near to causing him a slight attack of homesickness. 
Back home on such a day he might have slung his old 
shotgun over his shoulder and gone off up the hogback 
with a couple of disreputable hounds at his heels. 
There wasn’t a dog in Huckinsburg that wouldn’t fol- 
low at the sight of a gun. Down there the air would 
be warmer and softer, without the chill breath that 
blew in from the Chesapeake Bay, and some of the 
trees would be showing green buds and there might 
even be, here and there, a jasmine bloom. Jerry shook 
his head. 

“ Reckon it’s going to be right hard to stay indoors 
some of these days,” he muttered. And after a mo- 

83 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

ment, with a flicker of a smile in his pale blue eyes, 
he added : “ Wonder what they’d do to me if I was 

to play hooky sometime ! ” 

Pondering that, he thrust his hands into his trousers’ 
pockets and the right hand came in contact with the 
few coins that constituted his available assets. He 
drew them forth and looked at them ruefully. Sev- 
enty, eighty, ninety — a dollar and twelve ! Saturday’s 
trip to Annapolis had been expensive. The cap and 
a pound of fudge and a couple of ice cream sodas at 
Moore’s had made an awful dent in his wealth. After 
the Baltimore visit he had sent home and subtracted 
a big ten dollar bill from his savings in the little bank, 
but there had been a lot of small expenses and here he 
was “ plumb nigh bust again”! And now that it 
seemed fairly certain that he was destined to play base- 
ball — for if the first or second nines didn’t want him 
the Baldwin House team was already bespeaking his 
services he was confronted by the necessity of pay- 
ing out ten or possibly twelve dollars for a uniform. 
Jerry shook his head again. If this sort of thing went 
on his savings wouldn’t look like much by the time he 
had finished at North Bank. Of course, during the 
summer he’d go back to the store if Pap had a place for 
him, but Pap had a fellow working for him now and 
84 


JERRY HIRES OUT 

there wasn’t enough trade for two clerks except on 
Saturdays. 

His musings had taken him to the comer of the 
school grounds, across the gridiron and the jumping 
pits and past the diamond, and now, confronted by the 
hedges, he was in the act of turning back toward the 
buildings when voices near at hand attracted his atten- 
tion. A little way beyond, Cicero, the school’s general 
factotum, was busy with a pair of mammoth shears on 
the privet hedge that ran along the road, and, in conver- 
sation with him across the hedge of the adjoining prop- 
erty was a big, fine-looking man of middle age whom 
Jerry judged to be Mr. Laurence. He looked much 
like the men of his age that Jerry was used to seeing 
back home, save that he was dressed better and with 
far more care for his appearance. He wore a droop- 
ing brown mustache that showed a few gray hairs and 
a well-trimmed goatee below, and a wide-brimmed 
brown felt hat was pushed to the back of his head. 

“ No, sir, I don’t know no one at all right now, 
Major,” Cicero was saying. “ Reckon I might find 
some one for you, though.” 

“ 1 wish you’d try, Cicero,” answered the other. 
“ I’ve been advertising in the Annapolis Capital, but 
no one’s answered. What’s the matter with your 
folks? Don’t they want to work any more? ” 

85 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


The old darky chuckled. “ Reckon they never did, 
Major! Only, sometimes they has to. It’s powerful 
hard to get a colored man to go to work in the spring, 
sir. Seems like if they get through the winter they 
ain’t worritin’ none ’bout spring ! ” 

The Major laughed and turned away, flicking the 
hedge with the cane he carried. “ Well, I wish you’d 
see if you can’t find some one,” he replied. “ This 
place is going to rack and ruin, it is so ! *' 

He went off in the direction of the comfortable resi- 
dence that stood well back from the road, and Cicero, 
after watching him a moment, returned leisurely to his 
task of snipping the too ambitious twigs of the privet 
hedge. Jerry, leaning against the backstop in the cor- 
ner of the ball field, pondered. After a minute or two 
he approached the negro, and Cicero, becoming aware 
of his presence, bobbed his old head and smiled broadly. 

“ Mornin’, sir, mornin’ ! Right scrumptious weather 
we’re havin’, sir.” 

“ Howdy,” responded Jerry. “ Was that Mr. Lau- 
rence you were talking to, Cicero?” 

“ Yes, sir, that was the Major; Major Lucius Waiden 
Laurence. Mighty fine gentleman, the Major is, sir.” 

“ Wasn’t he asking you to find him some one to do 
some work? ” 

“ Yes, sir, that was his complaint. He had a no- 
86 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


account darky workin’ for him last fall and he done 
failed to return. Looks like colored folks ain’t wantin’ 
to work nowdays.” 

“ What sort of work does the Major want done? ” 
asked Jerry. 

“ Mostly gardenin’. Says his hedges needs 
trimmin’, for one thing. And I reckon they does, 
too.” 

Jerry referred to the big nickel watch that reposed 
in a waistcoat pocket. He still had twenty minutes 
of freedom. Near at hand was a gap between the 
poplars that invited, and in a moment Jerry had climbed 
the fence and was off across the broad lawn, Cicero 
looking after him with a deal of curiosity. The Major 
had not returned indoors, but was standing outside the 
garage behind the residence. He observed the boy’s 
approach with a hospitable smile and spoke first. 

“ W ell, sir, what can I do for you ? ” he asked 
cordially. 

“ Howdy,” began Jerry. Then he swallowed and 
made a new start. “ Good-morning, sir,” he substi- 
tuted. The Major smiled more broadly. 

“ Howdy,” he returned. “ You’re one of the school 
fellows, I reckon.” 

“ Yes, sir. I heard you talking to Cicero about a 
man to do some work for you. I ain’t — I haven’t 
87 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


ever done no — any gardenin’, sir, but I reckon I could. 
I reckon I could trim hedges, anyway.” 

The Major looked surprised. “ But look here, son,” 
he said, “ how does it happen you’re looking for a 
job? First I ever heard of any of you boys working. 
Thought you were all too grand for that.” 

“ I can’t say about the rest of them, sir,” replied 
Jerry, “ but I ain’t too grand. I always have worked, 
sir. And I was thinking that if I could do the work 
maybe you wouldn’t mind me having the job. I — I 
sort of need the money.” 

“ Bless my soul, go ahead! ” said the Major heart- 
ily. “ I reckon you can trim a hedge, like you say. If 
you can’t, get Cicero to show you how. You can’t 
make them look much worse than they’re looking right 
now, I’ll wager! When could you do it?” 

“ I’d have to work sort of between times, sir, all 
except Saturdays. I could work all Saturday after- 
noons. And I reckon I could put in about three hours 
other days.” 

“Well, that sounds all right. What’s your name, 
son, and where do you come from? ” Jerry informed 
him and the Major nodded approvingly. 

“ I thought you didn’t come from around here. 
North Carolina’s a fine state, Jerry, and I’ve got a heap 
88 


JERRY HIRES OUT 

of friends down there. Now, what sort of wages are 
you looking for? ” 

“ I reckon I’ll have to leave that to you-all, sir. 
Whatever you say. I ain't experienced none, and 


“ Fifty cents an hour, then? ” 

“ Yes, sir, that would be all right. 'Course, if I 

don't do like you want done " 

“ I'm at liberty to fire you? Well, I reckon you'll 
satisfy me, son. When do you want to begin? " 

Jerry pondered. Then: “I reckon I could start 
in this afternoon at two. I ain’t — haven’t got any 
recitation to-day at two. I could work to half past 
three — nearly.” 

“ What happens at half past three? You don’t have 
any lessons at that time of day, do you? ” 

“ No, sir, but there’s baseball practice, and I’m try- 
ing for the nine.” 

“Are you really? Well, don’t let work interfere 
with your play too much, Jerry. Boys need a lot of 
play, I reckon. You come with me and I’ll show you 
where the tools are kept. If you don’t find what you 
need you tell me and I’ll see if we can get it. Keep 
track of your own time, son, and at the end of the 
week we’ll have an accounting. That satisfactory to 
you?” 


89 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


It was, and Jerry said so, and after being shown 
the tool shed behind the house he took leave of his 
employer and hurried pell-mell back to school and that 
eleven-thirty class in English. Before dinner he took 
time to return to Number 7 and study his schedule of 
recitations. He found that on Tuesdays he would not 
be able to deliver the promised three hours, but he soon 
solved that difficulty. It would be easy enough to get 
up early some morning and make up that hour before 
chapel. Altogether, he could put in twenty hours a 
week at the Major’s, by working all of Saturday after- 
noon, and that meant the munificent sum of ten dollars ! 
He didn’t lose sight of the fact that his gardening 
labors were going to cut into his study time a whole 
lot, but he believed that by staying at home in the eve- 
nings, instead of visiting around with Tom or Joe for 
an hour or more, he could maintain his present class 
standing, which, while nothing to boast of, perhaps, 
wasn’t so bad in view of his handicaps. As Tom was 
not at home Jerry had no opportunity of acquainting 
him with the news, nor did he see him during dinner 
time, and so it was that Tom first learned of his room- 
mate’s new activity just before practice hour when 
Lory Browne, meeting him on the campus, remarked : 
“ I see Jerry Benson’s got a new business, Tom.” 

“That so? What is it?” Tom responded. 

90 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


“ Don't you know or are you kidding ? ” asked the 
crew captain suspiciously. 

“ I don’t know what you mean, Lory, honestly. 
What’s Jerry up to? ” 

Lory chuckled. “ Just now he’s trimming the Lau- 
rence’s hedge and a couple of dozen fellows are over 
there guying him. I supposed you knew.” 

“Trimming the Laurences — What for?” 

“ Search me, Thomas. Thought maybe you and he 
had gone into partnership: Hartley and Benson, Gar- 
dening Contractors ; Mawns Lowed — I mean ” 

“ Never you mind what you mean,” laughed Tom. 
Then, becoming serious : “ Guess I’ll go and see what 

he’s up to,” he said. “ You never know what that 
crazy guy will do next ! ” 

Lory smiled, nodded, and ran up the steps of the 
Hall, and Tom went hurriedly toward the ball field 
where already a dozen candidates were whiling away 
the time with bat and ball. Beyond the backstop, 
where the line of tall, yellowing poplars that divided 
the school grounds from the Laurence property met 
the hedges that lined the road a group of boys, many 
of them in baseball togs, were amusedly watching the 
none too adept efforts of Jerry Benson who, having 
started at the school end of the Major’s hedge, was 
doing his inexperienced best to make it conform to the 
9i 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


prescribed shape. The gibes that floated across to the 
laborer were, for the most part, good-natured, for Jerry 
was generally well liked, even if his odd appearance 
and queer ways still occasioned secret amusement. 

“ How much do you get, Benson? ” asked one of the 
audience. 

“ Does he have to shave it when he gets through 
cutting its hair?” inquired another. 

“ He’s not cutting hair, you lobster, he’s manicur- 
ing.” 

“Hey, Jerry, there’s a place you missed!” 

“ Let me do some, will you ? ” 

As a matter of fact, Jerry would have been glad 
to let some one else relieve him, for hedge shears are 
heavy and this particular pair was rusted and worked 
hard. His wrists were already lame and tired, and 
within the last ten minutes he had looked four times 
at his watch. But he was determined to keep going 
until a quarter past three, which would allow him 
plenty of time to change into his togs in the gymnasium 
and get back to the diamond at half past. At first he 
had good-humoredly replied to the remarks directed at 
him, but now he was letting the onlookers answer their 
own questions, which they seemed fully able to do. 
Tom looked and wondered, and while he looked a 
voice that hadn’t spoken before was heard. Wayne 
92 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


Sortwell, dressed for playing, had joined the group a 
moment before Tom, and he had seen Tom’s arrival. 
His remark was meant more for Tom’s ears than for 
Jerry’s. In fact, it is doubtful if Jerry heard it at 
all, for his labors had carried him well down the hedge 
away from the others. 

“ Who’s the nigger cutting the hedge ? ” asked 
Wayne of no one in particular. “ Gosh, he’s got white 
hair!” 

“ He isn’t a negro,” volunteered a small youth who 
stood close by, in all seriousness. “ He’s Jerry Ben- 
son.” 

“ Get out ! ” scoffed Wayne. u Only a coon would 
do that sort of work. Maybe I can get him to black 
my shoes when he gets through.” 

“ He’s more likely to black your eye ! ” exclaimed 
Tom. “ And I guess he would if he heard you, Sort- 
well” 

The latter turned and simulated surprise at Tom’s 
presence. Then he laughed. “ Oh, I reckon not. 
He’d be glad to earn a nickel, probably.” 

Some one advised him to “shut up,” but several 
laughed, and Wayne added contemptuously : " Don’t 
see why he works for the neighbors. He could pick 
up a lot if he started a shoe-shining stand! ” 

Tom’s long-nursed if ill-founded dislike of Wayne 
93 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Sortwell broke forth. With two strides, pushing aside 
the small boy who had spoken a moment before, he 
confronted Wayne with blazing eyes. 

“ Benson’s a friend of mine,” he said quietly. 

Wayne Sortwell returned his look undisturbedly. 
“ No fault of mine, is it?” he asked sneeringly. 
“ You choose your own friends, Hartley.” 

“ Yes, and fight for them! ” answered Tom. 

Wayne’s eyes narrowed. “ Threatening me. Hart- 
ley ? ” he asked. 

“Exactly! You keep your dirty mouth closed 
about Benson or I’ll shut it for you ! ” 

“ I’ll talk as I like about Benson or any one else.” 
Wayne shrugged his shoulders. “ And I’ll fight you, 
Hartley, any time you say. But not here.” 

Several of the older boys present had interposed 
by that time. “ Cut it out, you fellows,” begged Tub 
Keller. “ You can’t scrap here in full sight of the 
school. Shut up, Tom! Wayne was fooling. Don’t 
be so touchy ! ” 

“ Tell him to let Benson alone then,” answered Tom 
hotly. “ Benson ” 

“ What about me ? ” interrupted a drawling voice 
at Tom’s shoulder. “ Here I am. Any one looking 
for me, Tom?” Jerry, still armed with his hedge 
shears, blinked inquiringly. 

94 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


“ It’s nothing at all,” said Tub soothingly. “ Get 
your togs on Jerry, or you’ll be late.” 

“ Sortwell was inviting you to black his boots,” ex- 
plained Tom, still unappeased. Wayne met Jerry’s 
inquiring look unperturbedly and smiled sneeringly. 
Jerry smiled, too, then. 

“ Reckon he was just foolin’,” said Jerry mildly. 
“ He knows I wouldn’t do that I’m aimin’ to earn a 
little money, but I’m right particular how I do it.” 

Wayne shrugged impatiently. “ I haven’t any quar- 
rel with you, Benson. But if this fresh freak here 
thinks he can tell me what I’m to do he’s got another 
guess.” 

“ I’m telling you to let me alone and my friends 
alone,” retorted Tom, “ and I’m ready to back it up, 
Sortwell. Any time ” 

“ Oh, dry up! ” said Tub wearily. “ Tom, you and 
Jerry hustle over and change or Keegan’ll have the hide 
off you. There isn’t going to be any scrapping to-day. 
I’ll lick the first fellow who starts anything! ” 

That brought a laugh, and, with Jerry tugging at 
his arm, Tom swallowed some of his wrath and, send- 
ing a last scowling, challenging glare at Wayne, took 
his departure. On the way to the gymnasium he nar- 
rated the story of the episode and Jerry listened calmly, 
swinging his shears thoughtfully the while. “ Well,” 
95 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


he observed when Tom had ended, “ I reckon he ain’t 
used to seeing a white man do work like that, Tom. 
You can’t blame him a whole lot, either. He comes 
from Georgia, and I reckon down there nobody but a 
negro would do a job like clippin’ a hedge. They 
wouldn’t where I come from, either ; leastways, not un- 
less it was their own hedge. They wouldn’t take 
money for doing it, I mean.” 

“ Oh, piffle!” exclaimed Tom. " He talked like 
that just so’s I’d hear him and get mad. And I did. 
And if he tries it again I’ll knock him down, no matter 
where we are.” 

“ Reckon I’d rather you didn’t, Tom. I got a 
couple of arms and fists of my own, and I’ll tend to my 
own battles. What you got against Sortwell, any- 
way? Before this, I mean.” 

“ I don’t like him,” growled Tom. 

Jerry smiled. “ Don’t seem like a very good reason 
for having a feud against him,” he said dryly. “ Bet- 
ter try to like him, Tom. Honest, it don’t do a feller 
any good to hate any one. It ain’t right. I’ve seen 
a whole lot of hatin’ back home, Tom, and it always 
brings a heap of trouble. ’Course, if a feller wrongs 
you, it’s different. It don’t help any to hate him, 
though, even then. Best way’s to fight him fair and 
start over again. Ain’t any one that ain’t — hasn’t 
9 6 


JERRY HIRES OUT 


got more in him to like than he has to hate, Tom.” 

“ Sortwell hasn’t,” answered Tom convincedly. But 
he added, with a chuckle: “Maybe, though, if I 
could swat him a couple of times I might like him bet- 
ter!” 


CHAPTER IX 
THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 

J ERRY discovered to his dismay that afternoon 
that his manipulation of the hedge shears had 
not improved his baseball playing. His wrists 
were lame and his fingers so cramped that it hurt 
him to even swing a bat, and when it came to 
throwing a ball he was fairly out of trim. But 
he wasn’t discouraged, for he knew that by to- 
morrow the complaining muscles would be accus- 
tomed to their work. To-day, however, he came 
in for more than one criticism, and he was heartily 
glad when the five-inning practice game was over and 
he could get under a comforting shower. When he had 
dressed he looked about for Tom, but that youth was 
not in sight and so he went leisurely out to the steps 
and, as he would have put it, pondered. He had 
thought to go back to his hedge-trimming for the half 
hour remaining before darkness, but he gave up the 
idea, for his arms were much too tired. Presently he 
went back and deposited the shears in his locker again, 
replying good-humoredly to Larry Thacher’s request 
98 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


for a hair cut. Going out again, he passed Wayne 
Sortwell in the corridor, and, having gained the steps, 
he waited until Wayne appeared and then, to that boy’s 
surprise, fell into step beside him. 

“Well, how did it go to-day, Benson ?” asked 
Wayne a bit embarrassedly. 

“ Poorly,” answered Jerry. “ Using those shears 
| sort of lamed me up.” 

“ I should think it might. Say, what’s the idea, any- 
way, Benson? Don’t you know the fellows here don’t 
do that sort of thing? ” 

“ Meanin’ work out ? Reckon I do, neighbor, but 
you see most of ’em’s got a right smart more money 
than what I have. Looks to me like it’s fairer to earn 
a little money that way than to make your folks pay it 
out to you. Me, I ain’t got any folks to do it, any- 
way, but if I had I reckon I’d feel like that just the 
same. Reckon I know how you fellers look at it, 
Wayne, but I can’t afford to be finicky.” 

Wayne winced at the use of his first name, but be- 
yond a quick glance of puzzled surprise he gave no 
sign. Instead, he walked on in silence for a long mo- 
ment. Then, turning to Jerry, he said: “Look 
here, Benson, I did say something rather rotten this 
afternoon, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, really. 
I only wanted to get Tom Hartley’s goat. I hadn’t 
99 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


anything against you. If you want to cut Major 
Laurence’s hedge for him I reckon it’s no one’s busi- 
ness but yours. Reckon you’re right plucky to do it, 
knowing the way fellows feel about such things here. 
I’m sorry I said what I did, Benson, and I ask your 
pardon.” 

“ That’s all right,” replied Jerry. “ I told Tom I 
reckoned you didn’t really mean to be insultin’. It 
didn’t worrit me none.” 

“ I didn’t. I just wanted to take Hartley down a 
peg or two. He’s spoiling for a scrap, and I reckon 
I am to.” Wayne laughed. “ I wouldn’t be sur- 
prised if we had one before long.” 

“What was it he did to you?” asked Jerry inno- 
cently. 

“Did to me? When?” Wayne turned indig- 
nantly. “ He never did anything to me, Benson, and 
if he says he did ” 

“ No, he never told me he did anything,” interrupted 
Jerry mildly. “ Only, you hating him the way you 
seem to, I just naturally thought he had.” 

Wayne grunted. “ I don’t hate him, I reckon. I 
just don’t like him. I never did, Benson. He’s al- 
ways been like he is now, stuck-up and sneery. Thinks 
he’s too good for a lot of us, I reckon, the blamed 
Yank!” 


ioo 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


“ If you wouldn’t mind calling me Jerry, ’stead of 
Benson, I’d like it,” returned the other. “ I can’t get 
used to being called Benson. Funny, though, about 
Tom,” he went on without waiting for Wayne’s agree- 
ment. “ He’s been right nice to me all along. You 
know, I wasn’t very sightly when I came here first, 
Wayne, and I did things all wrong, I reckon. Lots of 
fellers’d have yelled like anything if they’d had to take 
me in with them, and I don’t know if I’d have blamed 
’em much. But Tom didn’t seem to mind a bit. He 
was right fine about it, first off and all along. Seems 
like maybe you ain’t got him just right. Maybe if 
you was to forget about not liking him and start 
over again ” 

“ Oh, he makes me sick,” protested Wayne. “ I 
suppose I haven’t got anything against him, really, 
Ben — Jerry, but I just can’t stand him. Look here, 
did he ask you to — to ” 

“ No.” Jerry shook his head. “ No, he don’t 
know I’m talking to you. Reckon he’s just about as 
queer as you are. He told me he didn’t have nary 
thing against you, either.” 

“ Well, he doesn’t like me,” growled Wayne. 

“ Reckon he don’t know you any better’n you know 
him,” answered Jerry, with a laugh. “ Well, I got to 
leave you here.” 

IOI 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Night,” said Wayne shortly. But after he had 
taken a few steps toward McCrea House he stopped 
and turned. Jerry had paused at the entrance of Bald- 
win and was looking thoughtfully across the darken- 
ing campus, his hands deep in his pockets. “ Say, 
Benson — I mean, Jerry ! ” called Wayne. “ Come up 
and see me some time.” 

“ Yes, I’d be pleased to,” Jerry replied cordially. 
Then he climbed the stairs to Number 7. Tom had 
not returned and Jerry settled himself for a half hour 
of study before supper. What with working for 
Major Laurence and playing baseball, he wouldn’t 
have any too much time for studying. 

Four days later the hedge clipping was finished and 
the Major set him to work with a spading fork on the 
beds in front of the house and the vegetable garden be- 
hind. That garden looked depressingly large after 
three hours of labor had finished the flower beds and 
almost finished his back! But he consoled himself 
with the reflection that the more work there was the 
more pay there’d be, and the next morning he arose 
almost with the sun and was turning up the rich black 
loam before the smoke had begim to curl up from the 
kitchen chimney. The first Saturday brought him 
commendation from his employer and five dollars and 


102 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


fifty cents in coin of the realm in return for a half- 
week's labor. 

Major Laurence, so Jerry learned, conducted a law 
business in Washington, but Jerry sometimes won- 
dered when he attended to it, for at least four days in 
the week the Major was prowling around the grounds 
or sitting on the wide porch while the boy was at his 
labors. Now and then, to be sure, Jerry saw the big 
black automobile sweep out of the drive in the direc- 
tion of the Capital or glimpsed it on its return, but he 
couldn’t help thinking that the law business, at least 
as conducted by the Major, provided a deal of leisure. 
Several times the Major sought Jerry and stood by 
and talked to him while he clipped or spaded, with the 
result that there very shortly developed something 
very much like a friendship between the middle-aged 
man and the boy. It wasn’t long before the former 
had learned about all there was to learn regarding 
Jerry, for he was a very easy person to confide in. 

“ What are you going to be when you get through 
your schooling?” asked the Major one afternoon. 

Jerry leaned on his fork and pondered. “ I don’t 
know yet, sir,” he answered finally. “ I’m aiming to 
go to the university after I get through here, if I ain’t 
too old by that time.” 

“ How old are you now ? Seventeen, you told me, 
103 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


didn’t you? And you’ve got two more years here 
after this ? Well, that would make you only nineteen. 
You’d be through when you were twenty- three, Jerry. 
What college are you going to ? ” 

“ North Carolina, I reckon, sir. I’ve been thinking 
maybe I could get enough education in three years to 
do me.” 

“ A boy that’s as willing to work as you seem to be 
ought to get a whole lot out of three years in college, 
son. Maybe if you buckle down to it you might get 
through in that time and graduate. It’s been done 
often enough. Ever think of the Law as a profes- 
sion?” 

Jerry shook his head as he patted the lump out of a 
forkful of loaf. “ No, sir. I reckon I ain’t — 
haven’t done much thinking yet about what I’ll be. 
Reckon there’s heaps of time for that, sir.” 

“ Yes, maybe, but don’t put it off too long,” replied 
the Major. “ When you mean to hit something, 
Jerry, it doesn’t do any harm to get your aim some 
while before you shoot. Snapshots often prove misses. 
The Law is a fine profession and there’s something 
about you, my boy, that makes me think you’ll do well 
in it. Don’t think that I mean it’s any easier to suc- 
ceed in the Law business than in any other, though, for 
it isn’t. Whatever you go into, son, you’ll have to 
104 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


work and work hard, and put your nose right down to 
the grindstone if you’re to win out. Well, you and 
I’ll see a lot of each other in the next two years, I 
reckon, and so there’s plenty of time to talk about this. 
But if I were you, Jerry, I’d make up my mind by the 
time I was through school what I meant to shoot at 
and begin to aim. You can’t afford to waste time, 
you know. Reckon it wouldn’t be wise for me to try 
to influence you now, but I’ll say this, Jerry Benson: 
If you do decide for Law you can count on me for help 
and advice. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there was 
an opening for a smart, hard-headed young fellow in 
my office in six or seven years’ time.” 

The Major sauntered off, swinging his stick, before 
Jerry could find the words wherewith to thank him 
properly, and Jerry, skirting the asparagus bed with a 
busy fork, pondered deeply. 

Two days later Jerry reverted to the subject. He 
was spading amongst the raspberry canes and the 
Major had paused to look on a moment. “ I been 
thinking,” began Jerry, straightening and wiping a 
damp forehead with one sleeve. 

“Have you, Jerry? Well, let me hear the result.” 

“ Well, I mean,” stammered the boy, “ I been think- 
ing about what you said day before yesterday, sir; 
about the Law.” The Major nodded encouragingly. 

105 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“Of course/’ continued Jerry, “ I might not be smart 
enough for it, but, supposing I was, sir, what sort of 
studying would be proper for me? ” 

“Now, you mean? Just what you’re doing, Jerry. 
A lawyer has to have a sound general knowledge to 
build on. But you won’t do yourself any harm, 
whether you go in for Law later on or something else, 
if you read all the history you can lay your hands on, 
particularly the history of your own country. And 
you’d better pay some attention to Latin, son.” 

Jerry sighed as he dug his fork again. “ Yes, sir, 
that’s what I supposed. I — I’m having right smart 
trouble with that Latin ! ” 

The Major laughed. “ Never mind, Jerry, you’ll 
master it. Don’t let it scare you, son. Don't ever 
let anything scare you, no matter how big or ugly it 
looks. Walk right up to it. The nearer you get the 
smaller it’ll be. Troubles always look bigger from a 
distance. Just remember that, my boy.” 

“ Reckon that’s so, too/’ reflected Jerry when the 
Major had continued his progress toward the garage 
where a young colored chauffeur with a soul above 
hedge-clipping and garden digging was grooming the 
car. “ This garden looked mighty big and discour- 
aging when I looked at it from round front and now 
it ain’t so big after all ! ” 

106 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


North Bank played her first baseball game the Wed- 
nesday of that week at Fen wood, a dozen miles away, 
but Jerry neither took part in it nor viewed it. Instead, 
he worked all the afternoon at the Major’s and earned 
the respectable sum of a dollar and seventy-five cents. 
The same thing happened the following Saturday, save 
that North Bank played at home that day and Jerry 
earned an even two dollars. The first contest was a 
victory for the Light Blue, but on Saturday Mount 
Saint Anne’s nosed out in the ninth inning of a loosely 
played game, the final score standing n to io. There- 
after Wednesday and Saturday games were in order, 
North Bank meeting the less formidable of the oppo- 
nents of her season’s schedule and halving the victories 
fairly evenly. 

The Sunday after the Mount Saint Anne’s contest 
was cloudy but warm, with a heartening odor of newly 
turned sod and of green things growing in the soft, 
moist air. After dinner, always a hearty meal on 
Sunday, Tom stretched himself on the window sill of 
Number 7 with a book in his hands and the afternoon 
breeze creeping in through the wide-open casement. 
Jerry tried to study, but the outdoors was calling 
loudly to him, and after a few minutes of wasted effort 
he closed his book, pushed back his chair and donned 
'his jacket. He had got over the idea that mental con- 
107 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


centration necessitated the removal of most of his wear- 
ing apparel, including his shoes, but he still found it 
difficult to study with his coat on. Now, having got 
himself back into that garment, he thrust his hands 
deep into his trousers’ pockets and stared thoughtfully 
and in silence at Tom for a long moment. 

Finally : “ Let’s go for a walk,” he said. 

Tom drew his eyes reluctantly from the page, 
“ Wh-what ? ” he asked. 

“ Let’s go for a walk.” 

Tom looked doubtfully through the window and 
longingly back at his book. Then he sighed. “ What 
for?” he inquired. 

“ Just to be out,” replied Jerry, joining him at the 
window and gazing at the far wooded bank of the river. 
“ I got a itching in my feet, Tom.” 

“ An itching, Jerry. Well, I can’t say I have. Still 
— how’d you like to paddle a canoe? ” 

“ I’d rather walk, I’m sort of craving for exer- 
cise.” 

“Well, canoeing’s exercise, isn’t it? How about 
rowing? Or what do you say to riding over to An- 
napolis on the train? You know you said you wanted 
to see more of the Naval Academy, Jerry, and this 
would be a fine day for it.” 

108 


THE MAJOR GIVES ADVICE 


“Train riding isn’t exercise,” said the other. “ I’d 
rather walk, I reckon.” 

Tom sighed again, deeply, dolorously, and laid down 
his book. “If you’d played through that baseball 
game yesterday, Jerry,” he said sadly, “ you wouldn’t 
be so keen for exercise.” 

“ Wish I had. Reckon you didn’t do anything to 
tire you much, though, Tom. Two mean little hits 
ain’t awful wearing to the constitution, are they? ” 

“ Maybe not, son, but trying to get those mean little 
hits was awful wearing! That fellow Bateman who 
pitched the first seven innings for them was a tough 
proposition! Well, all right, Jerry. Where’ll we 
go?” 

“ ’Most anywheres. I ain’t particular. Let’s have 
a good tramp, though; five or six miles. Let’s ” 

“Five or six — say, how do you get that way?” 
exclaimed Tom indignantly. “ I’ll go for a walk with 
you, son, but I won’t enter any blooming Marathon ! ” 

Jerry smiled. “ ’Twouldn’t hurt you none, Tom. 
You’re getting fat and lazy. Say we go up toward the 
Ridge, through the woods. Seems like, this time of 
year, I just got to get into the woods, Tom.” 

“Woods!” Tom groaned as he swung his feet 
to the floor and viewed the other reproachfully. “ Gee, 
roads are bad enough, Jerry, but woods are worse. 

109 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


You certainly can think of some rotten ways of spend- 
ing an afternoon ! Sure you wouldn't rather go canoe- 
ing ?” 

“ Plumb sure,” answered Jerry mercilessly. “ Come 
on and let's get going. Golly, wish we had a dog ! ” 

“ What do you want a dog for ? Better wish for a 
horse : I could ride that ! ” 

u A dog’s a heap of company in the woods,” said 

Jerry musingly. “ Back home ” 

“ I like your cheek,” Tom protested. “ You ask 
me to go to walk with you and then you wish you had 
a dog for company! I quit you, son! Too much is 
enough ! Here's where I stay at home in comfort.” 

He reposed himself on the window seat again and 
reached for his book, but Jerry pounced on it first. 
“ No, you ain’t staying at home,” declared the latter, 
“ you’re coming with me. Better put your old shoes 
on. We might find some hard walking.” 

“ If we don’t, I miss my guess,” muttered Tom. 
“And — I hope you choke, Jerry! Get away from 
here and let me up, you tow-haired tyrant ! ” 


CHAPTER X 


THE DESERTED MINE 

A S Jerry and Tom left the house the sun came 
through the clouds for the first time that day 
and shone wanly while they struck across the 
road and started up a footpath that led windingly 
across a hillside field toward the Ridge, a mile away. 
Not having the comfort of a dog, Jerry cut a stick 
which, subsequently, he carried over his shoulder most 
of the time. He confided to Tom that he wished he 
could take his shoes and stockings off and go bare- 
footed, but he received no encouragement. “ Seems 
like,” he said, “ a feller’s feet just sort of hanker to 
get loose in the spring ! ” 

“ Those feet of yours seem to be up to all sorts of 
stunts to-day,” scoffed Tom. “ Awhile back they 
were itchy, and now they want to get out of your shoes! 
Did you go barefoot at home, Jerry? ” 

“ When I was a little feller I did,” answered the 
other, half closing his eyes in retrospection and smiling. 
“Come warm weather, I’d shed my shoes powerful 


hi 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


quick, Tom. It’s a right nice feeling to get your feet 
into the grass in spring.” 

“ Maybe, son, but it isn’t a nice feeling to bust a 
toe against a rock! And I know, for I’ve done it in 
bathing.” 

Jerry chuckled. “ Golly, I seen — I’ve saw — seen 
the time when I had as many as four toes tied up 
on one foot! After awhile, though, you get so you 
don’t mind stone bruises. Looks like if we cut across 
here we’d save us some walking, don’t it? ” 

Tom look doubtfully at the woods toward which 
Jerry pointed. The trees, although still leafless, pre- 
sented to him a fairly inpenetrable appearance, and 
there was a good deal of underbrush between them. 
But something of Jerry’s pagan longing to be in the 
forest silenced his objections, and they left the path, 
jumped a small brook, and broke their way through a 
bed of briars. Seen in mass, the woods looked already 
green in their upper branches, while on the ground 
little tender leaved vines were pushing their way from 
under the carpet of brown leaves. Jerry stopped and 
laid a caressing hand on the bole of a big maple and 
looked upward as though seeking the face of an old 
friend. Although he said nothing, Tom understood 
and, smiling, watched the other in affectionate silence. 
After a moment Jerry tapped the old maple a couple of 
112 


THE DESERTED MINE 


times with his stick, not hard enough to break the 
bark but in much the same way as one might pat a 
friend on the shoulder or a faithful dog on the head. 
Then he went on, a happy light in his blue eyes. 

“ Golly, it's great! ” he said half to himself. 

Tom, wrestling one trousers’ leg from the clinging 
embrace of a thorny creeper, grunted. “ Isn’t it? 
I’m crazy about Nature, Jerry.” 

Jerry turned and grinned back at him. “ You like 
it about the way the negro liked work,” he said. 

Scenting one of Jerry’s stories, Tom asked : “ How 

was that ? ” 

“ Well, a white man engaged the town loafer to dig 
a tater patch for him and after the negro had been at 
work awhile the Colonel went out to see how he was 
getting on. * Well, Mose,’ he said, * do you like your 
work ? ’ The negro scratched his wool a minute, and 
then he said : * Colonel, I respecks this yere wuk. 

Yes, sah, I sholy does respecks hit! But, Colonel, I’s 
got to remin’ you-all o’ one thing, sah. The’s a 
pow’ful heap o’ diff’nce twixt respeck an’ likin’ ! ’ ” 

Jerry led the way, showing a remarkable faculty for 
finding the points of least resistance in the underbrush, 
and Tom plodded behind. Although the sunlight 
came and went and was never more than the palest of 
gold, the afternoon held a deal of warmth there in the 
1 13 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


forest, and Tom’s brow was soon moist. The way 
led slantingly uphill and after a quarter of an hour of 
walking Tom called a halt and sat down on a lichened 
rock. “ Guess I’m no woodsman, Jerry,” he sighed. 
“ This sort of thing doesn’t seem to feaze you much, 
but it certainly gets me!” 

“ I told you you were getting fat and lazy,” chuckled 
Jerry. “ There ain’t noth — anything like tramping 
up a hogback to take the kinks out, Tom.” 

“ To put them in, you mean,” replied the other, feel- 
ing of the muscles of one leg. “ I guess, Jerry, I ate 
too much dinner to be in good shape for mountaineer- 
ing. 

“Mountaineering!” jeered Jerry. “Golly, this 
ain’t a mountain. I’d sure like to have you back home, 
Tom. I’d show you some tramping that is tramping ! ” 

But Tom shook his head gently yet firmly. “ I 
hate to contradict you, Jerry, but you wouldn’t do any- 
thing of the kind. After this, the instant you set foot 
off the campus I quit you! Say, what’s that over 
there? ” 

Jerry followed Tom’s pointing finger and looked 
puzzled for a moment. Then : “ Looks to me like it 

was a cave or something. Let’s go see.” 

“ You go,” said Tom. “ I’ll believe anything you 
tell me.” 


THE DESERTED MINE 


“ That’s what it is,” called Jerry a moment later. 
“ Come see.” 

Tom arose protestingly and made his way through 
the woods to where, some sixty feet away, Jerry was 
peering interestedly into the mouth of an opening in 
the hillside. 

“ Ever hear tell of a mine around here? ” Jerry in- 
quired as Tom joined him. Tom shook his head. 
“ Well, I reckon that’s what this is, or was. Look 
there, Tom. See that rail? Bet you there’s another 
one over here.” He kicked at the deposit of earth and 
leaves just outside the opening and was rewarded. 
“ It’s a mine tunnel,” he went on somewhat excitedly. 
“Look here, Tom; see where they dumped the earth? 
See how the ground spreads here and how steep it is 
yonder? Wonder how far the tunnel goes. Wonder 
how they got the ore away. Must have been a road 
here once, but I don’t see any. Hold on, though! 
Down there at the foot of the dump — — Yes, sir, there 
was a road there once! See where all that second- 
growth timber’s growed up? It went right down 
thataway.” Jerry pointed and Tom followed with his 
gaze, doubtfully. 

“ I dare say,” he agreed. “ Funny no one knows 
about it, isn’t it? ” 

“ I reckon it’s been a long while since it was worked,” 

n5 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


said Jerry, “ if ever it was. Maybe it didn’t amount 
to noth — anything after they’d dug the tunnel. Want 
to go in and see ? ” 

“ Sure ! What do you suppose they were after, 
Jerry? Gold?” 

“Gold? No, iron, I reckon. Wait a minute.” 
Jerry began to scratch about with his stick under the 
leaves and black humus at the edge of the bank. 
Presently he stooped and picked up a small piece of 
stone and nodded his satisfaction. " Iron,” he said, 
handing his find to Tom. 

The lump was slaty-brown, even reddish-brown in 
spots, and looked to be a portion of a much larger 
nodule. It was very heavy for its size. “ Clay iron, 
I reckon,” said Jerry. “ I seen some of it before. 
Only it don’t seem like there’d be clay around here ; it’s 
too high.” He dropped the stone in a pocket and went 
back to the mouth of the opening. Bushes had grown 
about it and a young maple had planted itself directly 
in the center as though to proclaim that Nature had 
again taken possession of its own. Perhaps had the 
boys heeded that warning against trespass it would 
have been better. But they didn’t. Jerry pushed aside 
the greening branches and made his way into the 
opening. Inside, whither Tom followed, the ancient 
shoring was still in place, and a dozen feet from the 
116 


THE DESERTED MINE 


entrance the rusted, flaked rails emerged from the 
litter of years and ran straight ahead at a gentle de- 
scent into the darkness. Jerry stopped and began to 
rummage his pockets. 

“ Reckon I ain’t got a match,” he muttered. “ You 
got any ? ” 

Tom searched and found a couple, rather to his sur- 
prise. “ But two matches won’t last very long, Jerry,” 
he objected. 

" That’s so. Reckon we’d better have a torch.” 
Jerry made his way outside again and, after a minute, 
returned with a long splinter of pine which, once afire, 
biased merrily. “ Reckon that’ll do us,” Jerry said, 
and went on again. The earth was fairly firm under- 
foot, between the two rails, and the shoring, in spite of 
evidently having been there many years, appeared 
sound. Jerry held the torch beside one of the posts 
that supported the roof girders. “ Oak,” he said. 
“ Reckon they’re good for another fifty years, Tom. 
Timbers are pine, though.” A little further he stooped 
and picked up a pickhead, rusted and blunt at both 
points. “ Hand-forged,” he said, and pointed out the 
hammer marks to Tom. “ Reckon the feller that made 
that’s been dead a right smart while.” 

“ Maybe they worked this during the Civil War,” 

ii 7 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


said Tom, “ to get iron for guns and shot. Think 
that’s as much as fifty years old, Jerry? ” 

“ Reckon it is. Reckon you hit the truth, Tom. 
Don’t know whether the Rebs or the Yanks held the 
country around here during the war, but it’s likely 
enough both of ’em needed iron. And look at those 
rails. You don’t see any rails like those nowadays. 
Want to keep on? ” 

“ Yes, if that torch will hold out. Why didn’t you 
bring another?” 

“ Didn’t think to. Thought this tunnel would be 
only twenty or thirty feet deep. How far do you 
reckon we’ve come?” 

“ All of a hundred, I guess,” Tom said. They 
looked back, but only darkness rewarded them until 
Jerry, raising his eyes, caught a faint glimmer of light. 
“ There’s the opening,” he said. “ We been going 
downhill more’n I thought we had. We’ll go a little 
further. This splinter’ll last a good while yet.” 

Although their eyes searched the tunnel as they pro- 
ceeded, no more relics rewarded them. A roughly- 
rounded lump of the ore, larger than their two heads, 
dropped probably from an ore car, lay against one wall 
of the tunnel and Jerry stopped to examine it, turning 
it over not without difficulty. “ There’s clay on it 
yet,” he asserted. “ Must be a what-you-call-it — 
118 


THE DESERTED MINE 


stratum? — of clay under the Ridge, Tom, and these 
fellers, whoever they were, found it down below some- 
where and then driv — drove this tunnel in here to 
get it. Reckon maybe we’d better go back now and 
finish some day when we’ve got a light. We might 
bring a couple of lanterns with us, Tom.” 

“ Hold your torch up a minute,” said the other. 
And, when Jerry had complied with his request: 
“ Isn’t that the end of it there? ” he asked. 

“ Looks like it was,” Jerry assented. “ Let’s see.” 

Some forty feet further along the tunnel ended in 
an enlarged space about four paces square. Jerry, in 
the lead, shouted a caution as he came to a sudden stop. 
“ Look out, Tom, here’s a shaft! ” he cried. “ Better 
not get too nigh it ! ” 

Tom paused at Jerry’s side, ten feet away from a 
square black gulf in the tunnel floor. The remains 
of a windlass stood above it, though the drum was 
missing, and over the edge two timbers projected, 
doubtless the end of a ladder. The rails stopped some 
six feet from the mouth of the shaft. 

“ Reckon,” mused Jerry, after a moment, “they 
missed their calculations, Tom, when they ran this 
tunnel in. Maybe the clay stratum dipped or some- 
thing. So they set to and dug this hole. Wonder 
how deep it is.” 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ So do I,” said Tom. “ Let’s have a look. It’s 
safe enough, I guess.” 

“ Reckon so,” said Jerry. “ It’s timbered, anyway.” 
He held his torch higher. “ Looks all right, Tom, 
but I reckon we’d better not get too close. There ain’t 
any telling.” 

Tom experimentally moved forward a yard. The 
earth was sound and solid underfoot, and he took an- 
other step. “ It’s all right,” he said. “Coming?” 
Jerry shook his head. “ Reckon I’ll stay here, Tom,” 
he answered. “ If I was you I’d be mighty careful.” 
Tom laughed as he went on. 

“It’s as hard as rock,” he said. “Wait! Hand 
me your torch. I want to see how deep it is.” Jerry 
gave it to him and Tom went forward again holding the 
torch above his head. Had he held it lower he might 
have seen the small nodule of ore that lay on the ground 
there, close to the edge of the yawning chasm. But 
he didn’t, and a yard from the opening he set one foot 
on it. He stumbled, cried aloud involuntarily and 
plunged forward. The torch shot from his hand and, 
in a trail of sparks, followed Tom from the horror- 
stricken gaze of Jerry. 


CHAPTER XI 
INTO THE DEPTHS 

B LACK, horrid darkness closed in smotheringly 
on Jerry as the light went out. Afterwards 
he seemed to remember having screamed in 
a frenzy of terror, but he was never sure as to that. 
Perhaps his voice, like his body, became for the instant 
paralyzed. At all events, it seemed to him minutes, 
although it was probably but the fraction of a moment, 
before the power of action returned, and with it the 
faculty of thought. Standing there in the darkness, 
he cried at the top of his voice: 

“Tom! Tom! Are you hurt ? Can you hear 
me? Tom !” 

No answer came, though his heart was pounding so 
violently that it seemed to shake his whole body and 
the sound of it might well have drowned all else. 
Cautiously he lowered himself to hands and knees and 
cautiously he crept forward in the blackness until one 
shaking, exploring hand hung over the edge of the pit. 
Again he shouted, and now, as he had noted before, 
his voice came back to him in hollow echoes from the 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


depths of the shaft. But, amongst the sepulchral and 
ghostly voices was one that brought such a revulsion of 
feeling as to make Jerry’s heart nearly stop beating. 
It was no echo, but a distinct though faint answer to 
his hail, coming, as it seemed, from the very depths of 
the earth : 

“ Jerry!” 

With a sob of relief, Jerry called again. “Tom! 
Can you hear me ? Are you safe ? ” 

“Yes!” The voice sounded stronger now. “I’m 

in water, holding on to a - ” Jerry couldn’t get that 

word, for Tom’s voice grew faint again. Jerry waited 
a moment. Then : “ I’ve hurt my arm, I think,” 

Tom went on slowly. “ The left one. Can you get 
me out, Jerry? ” 

“ Yes ! Just you hold on a minute ! Can you? ” 

“ Yes, but — please hurry ! ” 

“Coming, Tom!” Jerry reached for the end of 
the ladder, found the two uprights, drew himself tow- 
ard them on his knees. Then, not without a prickling 
sensation down his spine, he laid himself face down on 
the tunnel floor, grasped an upright in each hand and 
pushed backward until his feet dangled over the void. 
Whether the ladder, if it really was a ladder, would 
hold him he did not know. But he groped with his 
feet for the top round, found it at last and cautiously 


122 


INTO THE DEPTHS 

placed his weight on it. It held, and, breathing a little 
prayer, Jerry lowered himself into the shaft, his hands 
straining hard at their holds and his heart thumping 
sickeningly. It took courage to place absolute reliance 
on that unseen ladder, but after a moment of fearful 
indecision, he bent one leg and searched with his other 
foot for the next rung. He found it and lowered his 
weight to it. His head now was, he judged, below the 
level of the tunnel floor, for it was no longer possible 
to hold to the uprights, secured as they were directly 
to the wall of the shaft, and he was forced to grip the 
rungs. So close were these to the wall that there was 
scarcely space for his feet to lodge on them, and he 
wished mightily that he had thought to discard his 
shoes. The rungs were worn where years before 
other feet had trod them, but they still seemed stout, 
and gradually he found confidence, and courage re- 
turned. 

After a minute or two he stopped and peered down 
into the black void beneath him. “Tom! ” he called. 

“ Hello! ” 

“ I’m coming down by the ladder ! ” 

There was a moment’s silence, and then : “ Is it 

safe?” asked the faint voice below. 

“ I reckon so. It’s all right so far. Can you hang 
on? ” 


123 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“Yes!” But the voice, though courageous, quav- 
ered piteously. 

“Just a minute more!” called Jerry reassuringly, 
although in his heart he knew that, even could he reach 
the bottom of the ladder, his task would be but begun. 
But he went on, a bit faster now, though testing each 
rung before he put his full weight on it. Suddenly his 
heart missed a beat. As he placed one foot on a cross- 
piece there was a snapping sound and it gave beneath 
him. In the silence there came the noise of a tiny 
splash as one fragment of the broken rung struck the 
water below. Jerry, startled, clung desperately there, 
and Tom’s voice came anxiously. 

“ What — happened ? Are you — all right ? ” 

“Yes! ” Jerry’s voice shook a little in spite of his 
effort to keep it steady. “ A rung broke, that’s all.” 
Already, kneeling now on the rung on which he had 
been standing, he was groping for the support next be- 
low the broken one. To his joy and relief it was there 
and firm. As he lowered himself to it Tom again 
spoke. 

“Jerry! Listen! You’d better not try it. You’d 
better go back for — help.” 

“ It would take half an hour,” cried Jerry. “ Could 
you — hold out, Tom? ” 


124 


INTO THE DEPTHS 

There was a long pause before the answer came. 
" I could — try,” said Tom. 

“ Tm coming down this way ! ” declared Jerry de- 
terminedly. “I must be halfway already! Tom, if 
you can’t hold on, if you have to let go, can you keep 
afloat for a spell ? ” 

“ I’ll try, Jerry. One arm’s — sort of — gone — 
back — on me.” 

“ I’m coming ! ” Jerry managed to make his voice 
sound fairly cheerful that time. Another rung and an- 
other. He dared not hurry too much, dared not trust 
a support until he had tested it well, but he made pro- 
gress. By now, he judged, he had lowered himself a 
full forty feet. The last time he had spoken Tom's 
voice had sounded much nearer. If the ladder held 
— Jerry couldn’t trust himself even to consider the 
other contingency — as much more time and effort 
should bring him to the bottom of it. What was to 
happen then he didn’t know. The ladder might stop 
short of the surface of the water, in which case he 
must somehow wriggle out of his garments and, ty- 
ing them together, trust to reaching Tom in that way. 
Failing that — but there Jerry’s planning stopped. 
At the back of his mind, I think, lurked the grim de- 
termination to stand by Tom to the end, whatever the 
end might be. Returning to the school for aid was 

125 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


clear outside his reckoning, for he well knew that with 
one arm injured beyond use, Tom could never stay 
afloat for the length of time necessary to reach the 
school and return. But Jerry’s planning went no fur- 
ther than an effort to reach Tom by hand or by im- 
provised line. After that he could only hope! 

After he had lowered himself by a dozen more rungs 
he spoke again. “ All right, Tom? ” 

“All right!” was the answer, but Jerry knew that 
the other was almost at the limit of endurance, for the 
words came with a gasp that spoke of pain. Grimly 
Jerry found the succeding rung. He had lost his cap 
long before and his forehead was beaded with a perspi- 
ration that lay chill upon it. His hands that grasped 
the rungs tightly were at once wet and clammy and in 
spite of himself he could not keep his muscles from 
trembling. Each time he bent a knee he feared that he 
could not straighten it again. It was as though not 
bone but water lay beneath the flesh. But he kept on, 
•with slow and cautious haste. He must, he told him- 
self exultantly, be close now to the flooded bottom of 
the shaft. And telling himself that, his heart sank 
sickeningly. 

His groping foot found only space! Not only was 
the next rung missing, but the one beyond that, and, 
still searching, the fearful knowledge came to him that 
126 


INTO THE DEPTHS 


just beneath him the whole ladder was gone! A surge 
of despair almost loosened his hold. He closed his 
staring eyes and a sob escaped him while his grip on 
the rung above him tightened frantically. Despair 
and terror both kept him silent and motionless for a 
long moment. Then with groping feet he made cer- 
tain. On each side the upright was missing. He 
could feel the rough and splintered ends. The ladder 
had failed him after all ! 

Desperately he clung there, with a feeling of horrid 
faintness. What could he do? Although he had al- 
most accomplished the descent, yet he was sure that far 
too great a distance intervened between him and Tom 
to be bridged by any means at his command. He 
feared to speak yet lest Tom would guess and give up 
his fight, feared to speak at all since, having spoken, he 
must finally tell the truth. Jerry thought hard and 
desperately, clinging there in the encompassing dark- 
ness, and seconds sped. 

At last he spoke, and, strangely, his voice held no 
hint of discouragement or despair. He spoke, indeed, 
quietly and even cheerily. “ Tom,” he said. 

“ Yes?” 

“ All right, just wanted to find out how far away 
you were. Reckon you’re about twenty feet from me 
now, eh?” Doubtless silence gave assent, for Jerry 
127 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


went on. “ Where are you, Tom? On this side of 
the shaft or the other? Can you tell where I am from 
my voice ?” 

“ Yes,” answered Tom weakly, hesitatingly, “ You’re 
on the other side. I’m hanging — to a spike here 
across the shaft.” 

“Good! Keep your head down, Tom. Keep as 
close to the side as you can. I’m going to drop some- 
thing in a minute and I don’t want it should hit you, 
understand, Tom ? ” 

“ What — is it?” 

“ I reckon it’ll be a piece of this ladder,” answered 
Jerry grimly. “ It will be if I can break it loose. I 
can’t get no nigher to you, Tom, for there ain’t no more 
ladder ! ” 


CHAPTER XII 
“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 

J ERRY thought he heard a gasp from Tom, but 
he wasn’t certain, and after a brief instant of 
silence the latter spoke. 

“ You mean I’m — to lay hold of the — ladder?” 
he asked. 

“ Yes, if you get it under your shoulders it’ll float 
you. I’m going back up, Tom. I’ve got to get that 
pick, I reckon, to pry a length of this loose. Then 
I’ll drop it. It — it’s a chance, Tom, because if it 
hit you ” 

“You shout before — you let go,” answered Tom, 
“and I’ll duck under — the water. I’ll take the 
chance, Jerry ! ” 

“ Good ! I’ll try to drop it close to this side. 
Reckon, if you have that to keep you afloat there’ll be 
time to go get a rope. I’ll hurry, Tom.” Jerry was 
already climbing back up the ladder. “ I won’t be long. 
You — you keep your chin up!” 

“I’m — all right,” declared Tom gaspingly. 
“ Don’t you worry — about me — Jerry ! ” 

129 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


There was new hope and fresh courage in Tom’s 
voice, and Jerry, conquering rung after rung with fair 
speed, felt as if a ton weight had been taken from his 
heart. It would be, he realized, no child’s play to 
wrest one of those uprights from the shaft wall, but 
he was certain that, with the pick head to aid, it could 
be done. He tried to count the ladder rungs as he as- 
cended, that he might know how great a length of rope 
would be needed, but his thoughts took his mind from 
the task and after twenty he lost count. Sooner than 
he expected his reaching hands encountered empty air 
and he was back at the tunnel level. He pulled him- 
self over the edge and cautiously stood upright. Then, 
not daring to more than turn his head, he shouted back 
reassuringly that he was up, and Tom’s voice re- 
sponded faintly. After that Jerry took four long paces 
and reached for the tunnel wall. It was there beside 
him, and counting his steps, he went back along the 
tunnel. He wished he could remember how far along 
the tunnel he had picked up the pick and set it down 
again. He had, he recalled, leaned it against the right- 
hand wall, facing the shaft, and presently, still counting 
paces, he crossed the track and, as he went, swept the 
space between floor and wall with his left foot. A 
moment later he stumbled over an obstacle and almost 
fell headlong. It was the fragment of ore, lying be- 
130 


“ KEEP YOUR CHIN UP ! ” 


tween rail and wall. He had forgotten that, but now 
he remembered that they had found the ore after dis- 
covering the pick, and went on, certain that he had not 
passed the latter. And presently his foot struck it 
and knocked it over, and then he had it in his hand and 
had turned back toward the shaft.- 

He had counted seventy-one paces since leaving the 
shaft, and knew that they had been short ones. Now, 
returning, he tried to make his steps of the same length. 
But his eagerness to get back constantly lengthened 
them, and, realizing it, he paused when he had counted 
fifty, and pondered. The danger was in overwalking 
and sharing Tom’s fate. After a moment he went 
on slowly, testing the ground ere he set foot on it. 
Ten paces so, and he lowered himself to hands and 
knees and continued the journey in that manner. And 
finally, when he had begun to wonder if he had some- 
how got turned around and was crawling toward the 
tunnel’s mouth instead of toward the shaft, his hand 
fell on the edge of the opening, and, with a little gasp, 
he stopped. Exploring, then, he found the ladder 
ends, but before he set to work he called again down 
the shaft. Tom’s voice came back to him amongst the 
echoes and he shouted again cheerfully. Then, peel- 
ing off his coat and vest, he lowered himself, pick in 
hand, down ithe ladder. Presently he found the lower 

131 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


end of the right hand upright, some dozen feet below 
the tunnel level. Shifting his feet well to the left of 
the rung he was on, he managed to get his left arm 
through behind a higher rung, and thus assured against 
losing his grip, he began his task. 

What worried him most was the fear of losing his 
hold on the pick head, for without that his efforts 
would be useless, and every time he changed his grip 
on it his heart stood still. He had to hammer a blunt 
point many times against the outer edge of the rough 
joist before he obtained a purchase. Fortunately, the 
joist was pine or some other soft wood, and repeated 
blows finally yielded a crevice. Then, putting all his 
strength on the other end of the pick, he strove to pry 
the joist away from the wall. At first there was no 
give and his heart began to sink within him. Perspi- 
ration trickled down his forehead and into his eyes. 
If he could have had both hands to work with the task 
would have been far easier, but with only one the pres- 
sure he was able to exert on the lever was slight and 
for a long minute the joist resisted his efforts. Then, 
when hope had nearly vanished, there came a faint 
creaking sound and the pick head moved back toward 
the wall. With a heart that beat fast, Jerry strained 
with all the strength of his right arm, and, suddenly, 
132 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


the joist gave easily and the pick, released, almost fell 
from his hand ! 

Had he had to force the old wrought-iron nails from 
the planks he would never have succeeded in his task, 
for they were many inches long, spikes rather than 
nails, and they held firmly. But the joist was old and 
soft and the long nails pulled through it as it was pried 
outward. Moving the pick a foot further along, Jerry 
again applied his strength. Now the task grew easier 
and the joist came away completely at the bottom and 
rested on the nail-heads. Before moving upward an- 
other rung, Jerry leaned downward and pried loose 
the rung below his feet. This was far simpler work, 
for the nails were shorter and came away readily 
enough from the loosened upright. 'After that, he 
paused for breath and sent a panting inquiry down 
through the blackness of the chasm. 

“ All right,” was the answer from below. “ How 
much — longer ? ” 

“ Just a minute, Tom! ” He fell to with redoubled 
effort. Once again in his eagerness to end his task, 
he nearly lost his hold on the pick, and he worked 
more cautiously then. But, although he spent far 
more than a minute completing the work, at last he 
was able to crawl over the edge again and lie for a 
brief instant tired and inert on the floor of the tunnel. 


133 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


But that rest was only the matter of a few long-drawn 
breaths. Then he was kneeling by the edge of the 
shaft, pushing and prying, and a moment later the 
twelve-foot length of pine was free, dangling 
from his grasp. He steadied himself and called 
his warning. 

“ All ready, Tom ! I’m going to drop it ! ” 

“All right!” was the answer. From the depths 
came the sound of a faint splash. Jerry leaned over, 
held the joist as close to the wall as he dared, lest it 
strike the ladder in falling, and let go. A second’s 
silence followed. Then came a distinct, louder splash 
as the beam struck the water far below. Jerry waited 
a second and then called. 

“ Tom!” 

“ Yes ! All right — Jerry — I’ve got it ! 99 

“ Will it hold you up ? ” 

“ I think ” There was a moment of silence. 

Then : “ I’m on it ! — It’s fine — Jerry ! ” 

“ I’m going for help, Tom. I’ll be back as quick as 
I can. Will you be all right? ” 

“ Yes.” Tom’s voice sounded fainter than ever, as 
though reaction had him. “ Don’t hurry. — I can stay 
— like this — for hours.” 

“You won’t have to!” For the first time Jerry 
laughed. Reaction had him, too, and the laugh was 
134 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


weak and trembling. “ Pm off, Tom ! So long l 
Keep your chin up ! ” 

Greatly, then, Jerry longed for a match, anything to 
light the gloom of the long tunnel. He tried to run, 
but he was too weak for that, and he stumbled and 
staggered so that he had to slow his pace to a kind of 
jogging walk. Presently a white fleck brightened and 
widened and grew nearer and showed itself as the 
tunnel mouth, a roughly square opening bisected by a 
vertical black line that was the maple tree whose no 
trespassing sign they had failed to heed. Then he 
was out in the pale sunlight again, out with the friendly 
trees and the little green vines, free from the horrible 
nightmare of darkness back there. For a moment 
Jerry had to stop and shade his eyes, for the daylight 
hurt them intolerably. Then he was off, straight over 
the edge of the bank before the tunnel, running fleetly 
down the sloping hill, dodging between the trees deftly, 
avoiding the tangles with a faculty bom of much wan- 
dering in the forests. 

The school lay a mile or so away, in an easterly di- 
rection, and he kept the faint shadows of the trees 
across his path as he went, certain that by so doing 
he would emerge on the road west of the school or on 
the field over which they had started their journey. 
Perhaps in combating the instinctive tendency to bear 
135 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


to the left he bore too much to the right, for when, 
in a few minutes, he came to the edge of the woods 
the curving red-clay road was before him, and the 
school buildings lay a quarter of a mile distant, the 
tower of Founders’ Hall gleaming white above the tree 
tops. But the road had been rolled hard by many 
wheels, and, although he was fast getting out of breath, 
he made good time. As he went he mentally listed 
what was needed : a lantern — two would be better, — 
a hundred feet of stout rope, plenty of matches and 
at least two more pairs of strong arms to pull on the 
rope. 

On his right the trees ceased and the school hedge 
took their place along the road. There were the tennis 
courts and, just behind, the stable. And between 
courts and stable were two boys, walking slowly across 
the turf. On the instant Jerry’s plan to go straight 
to Doctor Heidler was abandoned. To find the Doc- 
tor would consume time, and time was precious. In 
the stable were lanterns, as he knew, and rope as well, 
and within hail was all the assistance he needed. He 
shouted and the boys turned inquiringly as Jerry leaped 
the hedge. Not until then did he recognize them. 
One, the taller of the two, was Wayne Sortwell. The 
other was Loring Browne. Too much out of breath 
now to shout, he waved, and they hurried toward him 
136 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


as he made for the back of the stable, his haste and the 
fact that he was coatless and hatless plainly indicating 
something amiss. 

“ What’s the matter? ” called Lory as they came. 
“Tom!” gasped Jerry. “He’s fallen down — the 
old mine shaft! Got to have lanterns — rope! You 
fellows come along — pull him out ! ” 

“ Tom Hartley? ” asked Lory as they hurried to the 
stable. “Where, Benson?” 

“ Old mine on the Ridge. ’Bout a mile. Find the 
lanterns. I’ll get some rope.” 

He thrust the door open with a bang that nearly 
shook it from its hinges and plunged into the harness 
room. The lanterns had been rescued by Cicero after 
the hazing episode and fitted with new chimneys, and, 
although somewhat battered, they were ready for serv- 
ice, as Lory determined as he seized them. There was 
rope in plenty, rope of many lengths and sizes, and 
Jerry chose a new coil of three-quarter inch manila 
that hung on a wooden peg. “ Got any matches ? ” 
he demanded. Lory and Wayne between them pro- 
duced seven. “ ’S enough, I reckon. Come on ! ” 

On the way Jerry supplied a brief story of the acci- 
dent, avoiding superfluous details since he needed all 
the breath that was left to him. “ But I never heard 


137 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


of any mine/’ marveled Lory as he trotted along. 
“ Did you, Wayne? ” 

“ No, Can Hartley come up without help, Jerry? 
How bad is his arm hurt?” 

“ ’Fraid he’s busted it. I’m going* down. I’ll have 
to tie the rope around him, I reckon.” 

“ Gee ! ” said Wayne. “ That’s rotten ! There 
goes the best third baseman we’ve had in years ! ” 

“ Guess you’ve done your share, Benson,” said Lory. 
“ Better let one of us go down.” 

Jerry shook his head. “ I’ll go,” he panted. “ Bet- 
ter not talk. Save your breath. Got to hurry.” Lie 
led the way into the woods and they trotted behind 
him as he wound between the trees. He was wonder- 
ing whether he could find the mine again without a 
long search. He believed that he could, but there was 
always the chance that he might miss it at first, and 
that worried him. Taking his advice, the others toiled! 
behind him in silence, soon finding that rowing and 
baseball training did not necessarily fit them for run- 
ning uphill through a forest ! It wasn’t long, though, 
before Jerry had to moderate his pace to a hurried 
walk, and soon after that he began to peer anxiously 
about him. 

“ Much farther, Jerry? ” panted Wayne. 

“ Reckon it’s nigh here somewheres.” Jerry stopped 
138 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


and looked around, seeking some remembered land- 
mark. Then he gave a grunt of satisfaction. They 
were on the edge of a streak of younger growth trees 
that led uphill to the left, and Jerry followed it as- 
suredly. A minute later the little plateau of mine 
dumpings loomed above them and he led the way up 
its bank and, without pause, plunged into the mouth of 
! the tunnel. Inside, however, he stopped. 

“ Better light up,” he gasped. 

Lory and Wayne obeyed, and then they went on. 

, With the light of the two lanterns their progress was 
easy. Although Lory and Wayne wondered at what 
they saw they did so in silence, saving their breath for 
a better purpose. Near the end of the tunnel Jerry 
turned and took the lantern that Wayne carried. Then 
they were beside the shaft, its blackness looking 
strangely ominous in the flickering yellow glow. Jerry 
stepped to the edge of the hole, opened his mouth and 
closed it again without a sound. He stepped back and 
leaned tiredly against a wall, “You,” he whispered 
to Lory. 

So it was Lory’s voice that awoke the very echoes 
of the dark abyss. “Tom!” he called. And then, 
when the echoes had died to faint whispers, “ Tom! ” 
he called again. “ Tom!” They listened with loudly 
beating hearts, but no answer came from the dark 
139 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

depths. Jerry groaned. Wayne shouted at the top 
of his healthy lungs. “Hartley! Tom Hartley !” 
But still, save for the mocking echoes, the shaft yielded 
only silence. Jerry stooped and fairly ripped off his 
shoes. “Lay hold on the rope, you fellers !” he 
gasped. “ I’m goin’ down ! ” 

But he was trembling so with fear and exhaustion 
that Lory pushed him back. “ Not you, Benson,” he 
said firmly. “You’re all in. I’ll make it. Give a 
hand, Wayne.” 

“ Hold on,” was the answer. “ I’m twenty pounds 
lighter than you, Lory. That’ll count in getting me 
up.” He threw aside his coat and vest and unlaced his 
shoes. “ Better tie a loop in the end, Lory, and I’ll 
put my foot in it.” 

Jerry sank back again against the wall, too weary 
to protest had he wanted to. But he didn’t, for he 
realized that Lory was right. In less time than it takes 
to tell it, Wayne was ready, a little nervous, I think, 
but eager nevertheless. Lory tested the remaining up- 
right of the ladder and twisted the rope about it, letting 
the end of the latter hang a few feet over the edge 
of the shaft Wayne lay down and squirmed back- 
ward, Jerry holding a hand, until he had found the loop 
in the rope with one stockinged foot. Jerry handed 
him one of the lanterns. Then : 


140 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


u Lower away ! ” he said quietly. 

“If you need help,” said Lory, “ shout and I'll come 
down, too. We can look after ourselves all right, I 
guess, until Benson finds some one to pull us up. And 
— and let’s know how he is — if you find him ! ” 

“ All right. Go easy at first. I’m likely to spin a 
bit, I reckon. Soon’s I get my bearings I’ll call and 
you can lower faster. Let go! ” 

Lory and Jerry, bracing themselves, let the rope pay 
out slowly. The one twist about the upright took 
much of the pull and their task was easy. After a 
moment Wayne called back: “All right, fellows! 
Faster now ! ” 

They obeyed in silence. Only the rasping of the 
stout rope about the joist broke the stillness until, with 
something like a sob, Jerry said : “ Reckon he couldn’t 

keep ahold of the timber, Lory. I — I oughtn’t never 
to have left him ! ” 

“ You did all you could, Benson,” was the reply. 
“ Maybe Wayne’ll find him all right. Maybe he’s 
too done up to answer us. We’ll soon know.” But 
Jerry, staring miserably at the rope as it descended 
from sight over the timbered edge of the shaft, would 
not be comforted. At intervals a little sharp intake 
of breath showed Lory that he was suffering, and after 
another moment the latter spoke again. “ You 
141 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


couldn’t have helped any by staying down there with 
Tom, Benson. You did the one thing that could be 
done. Whatever happens, you mustn’t take any 
blame for it.” 

“ I oughtn’t have let him go near the edge,” answered 
Jerry miserably. “ I was afraid to go myself and I 
let him go ! ” 

At that instant there was a shout from far below. 
“ Easy, fellows ! Go slow ! I’m down ! Hartley’s 
here. I can see him ! Slow ! ” 

A long silence followed while the rope payed out 
inch by inch. Then : “ That’s enough ! ” came 

Wayne’s voice faintly. Another silence, filled for 
Jerry with a horrible suspense and dread. Finally: 
“ He’s all right,” called Wayne. “ Just fainted, I 
think. I’m getting the rope around him. Lower a 
little more!” 

There was a gasp from Jerry and a chuckle from his 
companion. “ Guess the poor chap just sort of keeled 
over when he found he was all right,” said Lory. 
“ We’ll have him up in a jiffy, Benson.” 

“ Yes,” said Jerry with a sniffle. “ We — we’ll have 
him up right quick now. Reckon we can pull him, 
don’t you ? ” 

“ Surest thing you know,” answered Lory heartily. 

142 


“KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!” 


“ He doesn’t weigh much, anyway. Was that Wayne? 
Listen ! ” 

“ Haul away ! ” came the word. “ But go easy fel- 
lows ! All right ! ” 

Lory had unslipped the turn about the upright and 
now, as they pulled, the rope bound badly against the 
edge of the timbering and made their work harden 
Tom weighed about a hundred and forty, and to that 
weight was now added many pounds of water-soaked 
clothing, and the boys at the rope soon found that theirs 
was no slight task. Yet the rope came toward them 
slowly. Lory, eighteen and with muscles hardened by 
rowing, soon found the perspiration starting on his 
forehead. Jerry panted as he pulled, hand over hand. 
Suddenly Lory’s voice broke the silence there. 

“ Benson,” he gasped, “ how are we going to man- 
age when we get him up? One of us will have to 
pull him over the edge. Can one hold the rope alone ? ” 

“ Golly ! ” panted Jerry. “ We never thought ! 
We’ll have to work to the ladder there somehow and 
snag the rope round it.” 

“ We never could,” answered the other desperately. 
“Wait! Take a look behind you. Isn’t that timber 
away from the wall a bit ? ” 

Jerry looked as bidden, but in the dim light of the 
lantern the shadow of the supporting beam made the 
143 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

question one hard to answer. But, “I think so/’ 
Jerry said. “ We can find out if we move over that 
way together.” 

They did so, shuffling across the tunnel floor until 
Jerry, bracing his feet against a rail, ran a cautious 
hand behind the prop. Then: “ Yes! ” he exclaimed 
triumphantly. “ Kick the rope this way and I'll work 
the end through ! ” 

After a somewhat breathless moment it was done, 
and then, while, doubtless, Tom, if he was conscious, 
felt a most sickening sensation as he dropped back a 
ioot or so in the shaft, they found new holds on the 
rope where it had passed around the prop. Although 
they stepped further back up the tunnel, the new ar- 
rangement had added more resistance, and the burden 
came toward them slower yet. Now they could feel 
the rope jerk at times as Tom's body struck against the 
ladder. But the end of their task came at last, and 
holding the rope tightly around the upright, Jerry saw 
Lory rush to the edge and, exerting all his strength, 
heave the still unconscious body of Tom to the tunnel 
floor. 


CHAPTER XIII 
ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 

A N hour later Tom was between the sheets of 
his bed, feeling, as he declared, quite com- 
fortable, thanks, although his left arm was 
bound and wrapped and there was a strong odor of 
liniment in Number 7. The injury, said the doctor, 
was superficial. In falling down the shaft he had 
probably struck against the ladder, and while he might 
easily have broken a bone, he had, in fact, only sus- 
tained a bruise which, while it extended from shoulder 
to elbow and was already beginning to promise the 
color effect of an Italian sunset, would not trouble him 
after two or three days. It was rather the effect of 
the shock and the half hour or more in icy water that 
the physician feared, and so Tom was relegated to 
bed until the next morning, with stern instructions not 
to budge therefrom on any account, Wayne, too, had 
been dosed, under protest, but he had not been sent to 
bed. As for Jerry, he felt oddly played out, but he 
had fought shy of the doctor. Lame muscles did not, 
in Jerry’s judgment, call for medicine. 

145 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


After the doctor’s departure Jerry drew a chair 
across to the side of Tom’s bed and lowered himself 
into it very cautiously, rather expecting to hear his 
legs and back creak like a rusty well wheel. He was 
surprised and relieved to find that they didn’t. Tom 
viewed him with an apologetic smile. “ Rather a 
bother, aren’t I, Jerry?” he said. Jerry studied his 
hands a moment. 

“ Well, I reckon I can’t call you- that,” he replied, 
“ but you certainly had me worried, Tom! ” 

“ I’m afraid I did.” Tom nodded gravely. “ Had 
myself worried, too. I didn’t expect you’d get me 
out, Jerry; not until you heaved that beam down. I 
guess I couldn’t have lasted much longer.” He 
looked reflectively at the first and second fingers of his 
right hand. They were so swollen that he could bend 
them but a little. “ Those fingers got so there wasn’t 
any feeling in them and they kept letting go of that 
spike without me knowing it. Guess that spike saved 
my life, for I don’t believe I’d have kept afloat. My 
clothes got so. heavy I couldn’t stay up, and having only 
one arm to work with made it harder. I fancy I 
owe a debt of gratitude to the man, whoever he was, 
who forgot to drive the spike all the way in. Maybe 
the four o’clock whistle blew after he’d given it a 
couple of taps,” added Tom whimsically. 

146 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 

“The first thing that saved your life/’ said Jerry, 
“was the water. If the shaft hadn’t been flooded 
you’d have been a goner the minute you struck the 
bottom.” 

“ That’s so. Guess I owe the fact that I’m in bed 
here to a number of things, including you and Sortwell 
and Lory Browne. How’d it happen that Sortwell 
fetched m‘e up, Jerry?” Jerry explained and Tom 
looked thoughtful. “ Mighty nice of him,” he said 
after a moment. “ I wish you’d ask him to come up 
sometime this evening if you see him.” 

Jerry nodded. “ I’ll see him at supper. Doctor 
Heidler says we were right about that mine, Tam. It 
was dug during the Civil War to get iron for the Con- 
federate Army. There was a furnace about three miles 
up the road where they crushed the ore and got the 
iron out of it. Then the Yanks came along and the 
Rebs covered the mine up with branches and the Yanks 
never found it. He says they mined that clay iron 
along the river and wherever they could get it. Says 
they’re still mining it some place around here and that 
it’s a fine ore for steel. Wonder if we was to pump 
the water out could we find some more of it down there, 
Tom.” 

“ What do you want it for ? ” 

147 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“To sell,” answered Jerry. “ Maybe we could get 
rich.” 

“ And maybe we couldn’t,” laughed Tom. “ I guess 
if there was any money in mining iron up there some 
one would be doing it right now.” 

“ Well, the Doctor says folks don’t know the mine’s 
there.” 

“ I know it,” replied Tom grimly. “ And let me 
tell you, Jerry, you couldn’t get me back in that tunnel 
for a million dollars ! ” 

“ Hm-hm. Anyway, I reckon it’d take a heap of 
money to get it started again. We’d have to build a 
road and everything. How’s your arm?” 

“ Pretty fair. It hurts some, but it isn’t bad if I 
keep it still. Ouch!” 

“ What you move it for, if you knowed — knew it 
was going to hurt you?” asked Jerry. “Ain’t you 
got nary sense at all ? ” 

“ I’ve got a sense of feeling, all right,” laughed 
Tom. “ Say, don’t think you’ve got to stick up here 
and play nurse, old man. I’m all right. Just find me 
something to read and run along.” 

But Jerry shook his head. “ I ain’t feeling awful 
lively,” he answered. “Anyway, I ain’t hankerin’ to 
do no running! Reckon I’ll sit around awhile.” 

148 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 


“ I should think you’d be mighty near dead,” said 
Tom sympathetically. 

“ Well, I’m feeling some lame. You see, pulling 
on that rope was sort of hard. You wasn’t any 
feather, and all the time I was scairt to death for fear 
we’d let you drop! ” 

“ And then you had to pull Sortwell up, too ! ” 

“ Yes, but he sort of helped himself ; climbed quite 
a piece on the ladder.” Jerry chuckled. “ Reckon 
we’ll have to chip in and buy a new lantern. Wayne, 
he dropped the one he had, coming up.” 

“ I guess that won’t break us,” laughed Tom. 

After a moment Jerry asked somewhat embarrass- 
edly : “ Say, want I should read to you? ” 

“ Read to me? ” Tom’s tone expressed amusement, 
but then, realizing that Jerry was very much in earnest, 
very desirous of doing something to entertain him, he 
added: “Why, yes, I’d like it, Jerry. What have 
you got to read ? ” 

“ Reckon I can find something. Ever read about 
how the English folks come — came to Virginia ? ” 
Jerry picked up a volume of history and looked anx- 
iously at Tom. 

“ I dare say I’ve read something about it,” answered 
the invalid, “but I guess I’ve forgotten most of it. 
Let’s have it. By the way, you’re going in heavy for 

149 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

American -history, aren’t you? I see a new book on 
the table about every day.” 

Jerry nodded. “ It — it’s mighty interestin’,” he 
said. “ I didn’t know what a lot of history there was 
till I started readin’ up about it. It’s as good as a 
storybook, too. Take it from the time those Spaniards 
came, right along down, Tom, and it’s right excitin’ 
reading. I’ll begin where I left off this morning, about 
the settlement of Jamestown.” 

“ Fine ! ” said Tom. But there was a note of resig- 
nation in his voice. Yet* although Jerry mispro- 
nounced many words and read in a queer singsong 
fashion, Tom was surprised to find that he was en- 
joying it quite as much as Jerry was, and a whole hour 
fled by very quickly. Then, while twilight took pos- 
session of the room, they talked over what had been 
read and Tom discovered that Jerry held very sensible 
views on a great number of things. 

When it came time for him to go across to supper 
Jerry pulled the table nearer Tom’s bed so that he might 
read by the light there, freshened his pillow and added 
a second from his own bed, drew the clothes straight 
in a fussy, painstaking and awkward way and acted 
for all the world like a nurse or an anxious parent. 
Even when he had piled all the available reading mat- 
ter beside the bed and had placed a glass of water on 

150 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 


the table within easy reach and had the door knob in 
his hand he turned for a final critical survey. 

“ Ain’t anything else you want, is there ? ” he asked 
solicitously. 

“ No,” answered Tom gravely, “ not unless it’s a 
basket of fruit and some calf’s-foot jelly.- Beat it, 
you idiot! Any one would think I was dying, the 
way you fuss around here ! ” 

Jerry only grinned. “ I’ll come back with your sup- 
per just as soon as I can,” he said. “ Reckon there’s 
anything you have a cravin' for, Tom?” 

“ Not a thing but some food, and a lot of it. Only, 
don’t skimp your own supper, old son. I can wait.” 

But he didn’t have to wait long, for almost, as it 
seemed, before he had got well started on a magazine 
story, there was a fumbling outside the door and Jerry 
was back with a napkin-covered tray. Then the chair 
beside the bed must be cleared and fresh water must 
be brought and, if Jerry could have had his way, Tom 
would have been fed by hand ! But Tom asserted him- 
self and drove the other away and got on very nicely, 
after Jerry had fixed a baked potato for him, with the 
five fingers available. And while he ate Jerry sat 
by and smiled broadly and told him all the school news 
he had managed to pick up and delivered several mes- 
sages of condolence, ending with : “ And I seen — 

151 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


saw Wayne Sortwell, and he’s coming over after 
awhile.” 

Tom’s evident enjoyment of his repast was visibly 
affected by the last announcement, and he paused with 
a fork halfway between plate and mouth to stare for 
an instant somewhat dubiously at Jerry. 

“ I say, Jerry, what am I going to say to him? ” he 
asked. 

“About what?” inquired the other innocently. 

“ Gee, you know ! East time I talked to him I was 
trying to punch his head. The — the situation looks 
a trifle embarrassing, what?” 

“ Well, I reckon Wayne ain’t holdin’ nothing against 
you, Tom. And I reckon you can’t be holding noth — 
anything against him, after what happened this after- 
noon. So I’d say there wasn’t much cause for feeling 
ticklish.” 

“ No, I suppose not.” Tom’s face cleared and the 
work continued its interrupted progress. “ I guess all 
I’ve got to do is thank him. I rather wish it had been 
Lory instead of him, but I dare say it doesn’t matter.” 

“ Reckon he sort of wished it was Lory instead of 
him when he started down on that rope,” answered 
Jerry dryly. 

“ Oh, well, you know what I mean,” muttered Tom. 
“If you don’t like a fellow you somehow sort of 
152 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 

hate to have to thank him for anything, even saving 
your life! ” 

“Well, maybe if he does it a couple more times 
you’ll kind of get over disliking him,” said Jerry 
mildly. 

“Oh, shut up!” laughed Tom. “Here, take this 
tray away, will you? I feel a whole lot better, Jerry.” 

Jerry viewed the tray and nodded. “ Reckon if you 
don’t,” he answered, “ there’s been a heap of victuals 
wasted ! ” 

About eight o’clock, after Jerry had made a trip to 
the Hall with the empty tray and returned, there came 
a knock on the door of Number 7 and Wayne Sort- 
well came in. Whether he or Tom was the more em- 
barrassed Jerry couldn’t determine. Fortunately for 
both, however, Jerry’s presence removed some of the 
awkwardness from the situation. Wayne threw a 
somewhat fearful glance at the farther bed as the door 
closed behind him and then greeted Jerry most effu- 
sively, almost as if the two, friends of many years, 
were meeting after a long and cruel separation. 
Wayne found an awful lot of things to say to Jerry, 
and said them in a hushed, sick-room voice entirely 
inappropriate in a chamber where the supposed invalid 
had recently demolished a hearty repast. But at last, 
having exhausted Jerry as a subject and found a place 
153 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


for his cap, he made his way circuitously to where 
Tom, smiling in a rather silly fashion, was secretly 
dreading his advent. 

“ How are you feeling, Hartley? ” asked Wayne in 
a hoarse whisper. 

44 Fine, thanks.” Tom, to prove the fact, fairly 
roared the reply, and Wayne actually jumped. Jerry, 
looking on soberly enough, though secretly amused, re- 
tired discreetly behind a book. But, of course, merely 
concealing one’s face doesn’t render one deaf, and he 
had no trouble in hearing the rest of the brilliant dia- 
logue. 

“ That’s great,” declared Wayne with much hearti- 
ness. Then ensued a distressing silence during which 
Tom cleared his throat and Jerry had difficulty in keep- 
ing from shuffling his feet for very nervousness. 

“Of course,” said Tom finally, “ my arm ” 

44 Yes, of course ! ” Wayne seized on the topic 
eagerly. 44 Gee, we thought you’d busted it. I said to 
Lory, 4 There goes a mighty good third baseman.’ ” 

44 What you really said,” remarked Jerry pleasantly, 
44 was, 4 There goes the best third baseman in years.’ ” 

44 Did I ? ” Wayne laughed embarrassedly. 44 Well, 
something like that. I — we certainly were mighty 
relieved when the doctor said it wasn’t a break, Hart- 
ley.” 


154 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 

“ Yes, so was I. I don’t mind it, really. It doesn’t 
hurt much. If I keep it still it’s all right.” He seemed 
most anxious to convince the visitor of his freedom 
from discomfort, and the visitor seemed quite as anx- 
ious to be convinced. 

“That’s great, isn’t it?” he replied with vast en- 
i thusiasm. “ I’d think it would hurt a whole lot. Jerry 
says the skin’s all sort of purple all the way down.” 

“ Sort of blue, more,” said Tom. u Guess I hit it 
on that ladder when I fell.” 

“ Must have. Well, it was certainly a mighty good 
thing you weren’t killed. Gee, that was a pretty deep 

hole! I thought I’d never get ” He stopped 

suddenly. Perhaps, since he had been unconscious, 
Tom didn’t know who had gone down for him, and in 
that case Wayne surely had no wish to enlighten him. 
“ What I mean is I thought the hole didn’t have any 
bottom ! ” 

“ Yes.” Tom made a funny noise in his throat. 
Then : “ I asked Jerry to ask you to come up here, 

Sortwell, so’s I could — could tell you how very much 
obliged — I mean how very grateful ” 

“Oh, gosh, that’s all right!” interrupted Wayne 
hurriedly. “ Any fellow’d have done it. Mighty glad 
to, you know. Funny if I wasn’t, I guess! It wasn’t 
155 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


any stunt. Rather fun, really. Going down on a 
rope like that. Sort of fireman’s stunt, eh? ” 

Tom had waited patiently and now he went on. 
“Wanted to tell you that I’m awfully grateful. Sort- 
well. You saved my life ” 

“ Oh, rot ! ” exclaimed Wayne, laughing derisively. 
“Jerry did that. All I did was to slip down and tie 
a rope to you. Gosh, that wasn't anything at all, was 
it, Jerry? ” 

“ Reckon it was about what any fellow that had 
the courage would have done for a friend,” replied 
Jerry. 

A moment of dense silence followed, while Jerry’s 
eyes danced behind the book. Then, somewhat ex- 
plosively, Wayne said: “ Sure! Well, I must be on 
my way. Mighty glad to find you so — so chipper, 
Hartley.. See you again soon. I dare say you’ll be 
playing again in a week, maybe.” 

“ Before that, I think. The right arm’s all right, 
you know. Much obliged for coming up, Sortwell. 
I — I guess you understand that it’s rather hard for 
me to thank you the way I want to, and — and that 

I’m sorry I’ve been so ” Tom’s voice trailed into 

silence. 

“ Sure ! That’s all right ! I guess we were both 
sort of — of crazy, eh? Well, so long.” 

156 


ENEMIES SHAKE HANDS 

Without seeing, Jerry knew that Wayne had ex- 
tended a hand impulsively and that Tom had taken it 

" Good-night, Sortwell," said Tom. 

Wayne backed into the table, laughed uncertainly, 
found his cap and reached the door. Jerry got up 
and found the knob for him, and the visitor, with a 
“ Good-night, Jerry/' was gone. Jerry closed the door 
and looked thoughtfully at Tom. 

“ Long time ago," he said presently, “ there was a 
feud between the Boyds and the Treadwells, and one 
day Tom Boyd shot at * Cub ' Treadwell and plumb 
missed him, and Cub, he didn’t miss. And some one 
went ahead to break the news to Tom Boyd’s wife 
while the others was toting Tom home. ‘ Dead? ’ she 
says. * Yes’m, plumb dead/ * You say Tom missed 
him?’ ‘Yes’m, missed him bad.’ She didn’t say 
anything for a minute. Then she shook her head. 

* Well, I always told him that old gun warn’t no good 
to shoot with. Reckon it’ll larn him a lesson ! ’ ’’ 

Tom laughed. “What’s that mean, you chump?" 

“ Nothing, except I’m like Tom Boyd’s wife. I 
believe in looking on the bright side of things." 

“ Go ahead ! Out with it ! " 

Jerry smiled whimsically. “I was just thinking 
that even if it hurted — hurt your arm, maybe that fall 
knocked some hate out of you." 


. CHAPTER XIV 
JERRY GOES ALONG 

S TILL looking on the bright side of TonTs mis- 
adventure, Jerry might have added that it had 
supplied North Bank School with a new interest, 
for within a week a plainly discernible trail had been 
worn through the woods to the mouth of the old iron 
mine, and, lest some other boy might emulate Tom’s 
exploit, the faculty had a barrier built around the shaft 
opening. Neither Tom nor Jerry, however, returned 
there that spring. They had seen quite enough of it. 
Besides, there were too many other matters compelling 
their attention. On Tuesday, by which time Tom was 
up and around without any ill effects from his plunge 
into the shaft, Jerry and Tom made a hurried trip to 
Annapolis and replaced the caps lost in the adventure. 
And Jerry, who had a well-nigh overdeveloped sense 
of responsibility, purchased also a tin lantern to take 
the place of the one which now lay under twenty feet 
of water at the bottom of the shaft. As it proved an 
awkward task to tie paper around it he told the clerk 
158 


JERRY GOES ALONG 


he would take it without wrapping, and on the way to 
the station and. thereafter he was an object of much 
interest, and an elderly gentleman, emerging from a 
bank as they hurried by, stopped Jerry to ask gravely: 
“ My boy, are you emulating Diogenes? ” And Jerry, 
missing the allusion and not wishing to miss the train, 
answered innocently and courteously : “ No, sir, I’m 

Jerry Benson.’’ And a minute later, having reached 
the local just as it moved from the platform and 
tumbled into a seat, turned to Tom’s convulsed coun- 
tenance and remarked in puzzlement : “ What you-all 

laughing so at? What did he mean by asking me was 
I Lmile Diogenes? ” 

Tom was back at practice on Friday, apparently no 
worse for his injury. And, by Friday, though scarcely 
before, Jerry’s muscles had recovered from their lame- 
ness and stiffness. He had put in a poor week at The 
Poplars, as Major Laurence’s place was called, for on 
Monday and Tuesday those same muscles had protested 
so loudly at the bare sight of a spading fork that he 
had had to humor them. The Major, to whom he 
made explanation and apology, had, however, heard 
of his exploit and showed no offense. Instead, he said 
several very nice, if embarrassing things to the boy and 
even called him a hero. For that matter, several 
others had called him the same thing ; Doctor Heidler 
159 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


and Mr. Ledyard and Mr. Hiltower, for instance; and 
he was becoming inured to it, although he didn’t really 
care much for the plaudits. 

Saturday afternoon, rather to his surprise and not 
altogether to his liking, Jerry was taken away with 
the first team and substitutes to Warnerston, where 
North Bank was to play Bay side Academy. I think 
that Jerry’s plucky exploit had more to do with his in- 
clusion in the party than his playing ability, for both 
Coach Keegan and Captain Lord were human and will- 
ing to bestow honor where it was deserved. But what 
troubled Jerry was the fact that if he was at Warners- 
ton he couldn’t be in Major Laurence’s garden, and 
of the two ways of spending the afternoon, spading 
at fifty cents an hour appealed to him far more than 
sitting on a wooden bench watching his schoolmates 
play baseball. However, it was his first experience of 
the kind and he began to enjoy it the moment the seven- 
teen boys and Coach Keegan boarded the train. 
Everybody was in holiday mood, and even the coach 
had lost his martinet ways for the time. Jerry shared 
a seat with Hal Thacher, the substitute pitcher, who 
was slated to start the game for the Light Blue, and they 
talked baseball most of the way. Or perhaps it would 
be more correct to say that Hal Thacher talked and 
Jerry listened, for Jerry didn’t know much about base- 
160 


JERRY GOES ALONG 


ball and Hal did. The train journey was brief, and at 
its end they climbed into four dust-covered motor cars 
and sped wildly over lumpy roads to their destination. 
Bayside was a small school picturesquely nestling 
amidst ancient trees on the edge of the Bay. The 
team and substitutes had changed into playing togs 
before leaving North Bank and so they stepped from 
the automobiles to the field, a broad expanse of well- 
kept turf, already green, that sloped slightly to the 
sparkling water. There was a long practice for all 
hands, toward the last of which the low wooden stands 
began to be sprinkled with spectators. Then Bayside 
appeared, an even score of clean-looking youngsters in 
white uniforms with cherry-and-black stockings that 
made North Bank’s gray-and-light-blue look rather 
faded. 

The game started at half past two, at which time 
there was much warmth in the April sunshine. Jerry, 
relegated to an unshaded bench with the substitutes, 
would gladly have traded his gray cap for a wide- 
brimmed straw just then. Forrest Birkenside, the 
manager, copied the batting order in his big score 
book, and Jerry, beside him, read the names as he set 
them down: Jackson, ss; Lord, ib; Conway, rf; Mc- 
Gee, 2b; Hartley, 3b; Sortwell, If; Beech, cf; Keller, 
c; Thacher, p. 


161 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Reckon it’s right hard keeping score, ain’t it?” 
asked Jerry. 

Birkenside pursed his lips as he began to enter the 
opposing players on the opposite sheet. “ N-no, not 
when you know how, Benson. You watch and you’ll 
see how it’s done.” The manager looked at his watch 
and set down some figures lightly on a comer of the 
page. 

“ What’s that? ” asked Jerry interestedly. 

“ That’s the time we start, two-thirty-one. Have 
to put the length of the game down here when it’s over. 
Come on now, Andy ! Let’s start something ! ” The 
latter exclamation was directed at Andy Jackson, the 
Light Blue’s shortstop, who, having pulled his cap to a 
satisfactory angle and rubbed his hands in the yellow 
dust of the box and then on the sides of his pants, now 
faced the Bayside pitcher confidently and awaited his 
fate. 

Jerry had never yet witnessed a real game through, 
from start to finish, in the role of spectator, and he 
was very soon absorbed in the varying fortunes of the 
contesting nines. He found the gyrations of the op- 
posing batter, a slight, earnest-looking youth, most 
fascinating, and mentally decided that both Grinnel 
and Thacher of his own team were sadly lacking in 
style. Embauer, the cherry-and-black-hosed youth, 
162 


JERRY GOES ALONG 

veritably tied himself into a knot each time that he 
pitched, so long, that is, as the bases were empty. 
When, however, Jackson having flied out to shortstop, 
Pop Lord drove a screaming single between first and 
second bases, Embauer showed a new method and 
pitched from the shoulder, and word traveled along 
the bench that the best he had was a drop when men 
were on bases. Conway advanced Lord on a sacrifice 
bunt that the pitcher handled easily, and then McGee 
brought a whoop of joy from the North Bank bench 
by sending a long and high one into deep center. But, 
while Pop sped across the plate, the Bayside center 
fielder pulled down the fly and the teams changed 
places. 

Thacher put himself in a hole at the outset and was 
finally forced to offer two straight balls, the second 
of which the Bayside batsman met squarely and lined 
into left field. It was a safe single and the Bayside 
audience, several hundred in number, cheered joyfully. 
Thacher struck out the next man and kept the runner 
on first. Then another hit came, one that McGee al- 
most reached as it whizzed past him, and when the 
ball traveled back to the pitcher there were runners on 
first and third. A foul fly settled into Captain Lord’s 
glove at the edge of the seats, and, with two gone, 
North Bank breathed easier. But she was not to es- 
163 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


cape unscathed, for, after the man on first had taken 
second unchallenged, a Texas Leaguer managed to get 
out of Conway’s hands. Since he had raced hard and 
far, the error was excusable, but it let in one run and 
would have let in a second if Conway hadn’t recovered 
quickly and hurled to the plate. As it was, the runner 
from second was finally put out on the base line after 
most of the Light Blue’s infield had taken a hand in 
his extermination. 

North Bank went to bat in the second with the score 
i to o and retired with the score unchanged. Em- 
bauer, so long as he could tie knots in himself was a 
puzzling pitcher with a wide range of delivery. His 
fashion of changing pace when least expected netted 
him eight strike-outs ere the game was over. In the 
second inning he sent Hartley, Sortwell and Keller back 
to the bench ignominiously, while Beech owed his life 
to an infield error that enabled him to slide into first 
a brief instant before the ball got there. That de- 
cision caused dissatisfaction in the stands, but it didn’t 
affect the result of the game, for the Light Blue’s 
center fielder never got any further. 

Hal Thacher recovered his effectiveness when Bay- 
side came to face him and not a runner reached first. 
And in such manner the game went to the fifth inning. 
It was a contest of pitchers, and not an outfield player 
164 


JERRY GOES ALONG 

had a chance. There were four errors, two on each 
side, and three hits, one of them a palpable scratch. 
But in the fifth the game broke. Tub Keller, first up 
for North Bank, caught the first offering of the hitherto 
well-nigh impregnable Embauer and sent it screeching 
over first baseman’s head for two bases. Thacher 
went out, third baseman to first. Jackson walked. 
Captain Lord, gripping his bat determinedly, waited 
until the score was two and three and then pounded a 
liner through the pitcher’s box and scored Tub, putting 
Jackson on third and himself on first. Conway flied 
out to right field and Jackson brought in North Bank’s 
second tally. McGee bunted down the third base line 
and beat the throw, and Pop Lord worked a delayed 
steal to perfection and was safe on third when the 
baseman dropped the ball. It was up to Tom to bring 
Pop in then, and Tom waited out two deliveries, a 
strike and a ball, while McGee went on to second. 
After that he fouled to left field, scoring the second 
strike, and fouled twice more, the second time barely 
escaping an out when the ball bounced out of the 
catcher’s mitt. But luck was with him, and when Em- 
bauer had tried to fool him on a drop that he wouldn’t 
even consider he reached out for a hook and got it fairly 
on the end of his bat for a low fly that sailed gracefully 
over first base and dropped to earth a few inches inside 

165 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


the foul line, well out of the reach of any one. Jerry 
joined his cheer to that of the others on the North Bank 
bench as McGee followed Lord across the plate and 
scored the fourth tally! Tom went to second on the 
throw home, but he died there when Wayne Sortwell 
popped a short fly to third baseman. 

“ Reckon we’ve got the old ball game on ice/’ 
chuckled Birkenside as he worked deftly with his foun- 
tain pen on the score. “ Three runs ought to hold 
those chaps safe, eh?” 

“ Reckon so,” agreed Jerry, “ but, as they say down 
where I come from, there ain’t no telling which way 
a pig’ll run. Reckon I’d feel a heap easier in my mind 
if this was the last inning, neighbor! ” 

The manager laughed. “ Oh, well, I reckon we can 
hold ’em. Hal’s right there with the stuff to-day.” 

“ He’s surely pitching a nice game,” said Jerry. 

But events soon proved the similarity between a ball 
game and a pig. In the last of the sixth Bay side sud- 
denly bewildered her opponent by hitting Thacher hard 
and freely. When three clean hits had been registered 
and one run had crossed the rubber, Coach Keegan 
signed to Jack Grinnel, and he and Crocker retired be- 
hind the stand and the former warmed up. With one 
out and men on second and third, Thacher took com- 
mand again and struck out the Bayside third baseman, 
1 66 


JERRY GOES ALONG 


one of the opponent’s most dangerous hitters. Then, 
however, there came a soul-sickening whack and the 
ball went speeding far afield, and though Sortwell and 
Beech both did their utmost to get under it, it dropped 
safely to earth and went rolling toward the water as 
though it meant never to stop! 

That was the only home run of the game and it 
cleared the bases and gave Bay side a lead of one tally. 
Thacher was hustled out of the pitcher’s box and Grin- 
nel was hustled in, but the damage was done! The 
stable door was being locked after the horse was gone ! 
Even Grinnel had his troubles in that inning, for there 
was still another out to secure and Bayside, having 
tasted blood, was not willing to eat meekly out of Grin- 
nel’s glove. The next batsman waited cannily until 
the blue-stockinged pitcher had secured one strike and 
had three balls against him — for Grinnel was pretty 
wild at first — and then landed on one that came to him 
in the groove and smashed it at Tom Hartley so hard 
that the very best Tom could do was knock it down. 
It was Jackson who snatched it up and pegged it to 
first, but by that time the runner was safe. Followed 
a second hit that went between Lord and McGee, and 
there were two on and the Bayside stands were howling 
lustily. But the suspense ended a minute later when 
Grinnel induced the Bayside captain to send up a long 
167 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


fly to left that fell gently into Wayne Sortwell’s hands. 
So ended a glorious or a tragic inning, depending 
whether you wore the cherry-and-black or the light 
blue. 

But here was the “ lucky seventh,” as Pop cheerfully 
proclaimed, and North Bank went after the game 
again. Jackson tried hard to deliver a hit, but only 
struck an easy one into shortstop’s glove, and Pop, 
loudly cheered from the bench, faced Embauer with 
the visage of an avenging Fate, After fouling off 
two, Pop unwisely went after a drop and Embauer 
put up a lazy hand and snuffed his candle. Conway 
struck out 


CHAPTER XV 
IN THE NINTH INNING 

B UT if the seventh inning was no help to North 
Bank, neither did it add to Bayside’s tallies, 
for Grinnel settled down nicely and the Cherry- 
and-Black players went out in one, two, three order. 
Jerry, anxious and absorbed, gave a sigh of relief as 
the third man flung his bat disgustedly into the pile. 
But Bay side's one run lead loomed very big as North 
Bank began the eighth, and it loomed still bigger some 
ten minutes later when Sortwell’s desperate effort to 
reach base ahead of shortstop’s peg failed dismally and 
the teams again changed places. 

“ Let’s hold ’em now,” called Pop as he pulled his 
glove on and went down to first. “ We’ll get ’em next 
inning, fellows!” 

Grinnel had a bad spell in that first of the eighth, 
for, after disposing of the first batsman with four 
deliveries, he pitched three balls in succession and set 
Bayside howling derisively. Then, steadying, he 
pitched a strike that cut the outer corner of the plate 
169 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


and followed it with a slojv ball that also registered 
for him. 

“ Right here, Jack! ” called Tub Keller, holding his 
hands invitingly. “ Put it over ! He’ll never see it ! 
Let’s have it, boy ! ” 

And Jack put it over, or, at least he started it over, 
but, although it was a fast one, it had nothing on it, 
and the batter swung and found it and came to a stop, 
somewhat breathlessly on second base. The home team 
rooters cheered lustily then and the coaches, hurrying 
to their stations behind first and third bases, began a 
cross-fire that, whether or not helpful to the runner, 
was not designed to steady Jack Grinnel any. But 
Jack was too old a hand to let that sort of thing worry 
him much, and, after two attempts to catch the man 
on second napping, he gave his attention to the Bay side 
third baseman. He worked a strike on him and offered 
him a hook that was refused. Then came a second 
strike that, rather high, brought groans of derision 
from the local sympathizers. 

“ A nice one ! ” shouted Tub. “ Let’s have another, 
Jack!” But when he knelt and gave his signal it 
wasn’t a high one he asked for, but a drop. And Jack, 
casting an incurious glance toward second base, hitched 
his cap, dug his toe and shot his arm out. The ball 
started for the inner corner of the plate, breast-high, j 
170 


IN THE NINTH INNING 

but it changed its mind on the way, seemed to lose 
every speck of ambition and just settled down and down 
until, after the batsman had ingloriously swung at. it 
and missed it by four inches, Tub picked it out of the 
dust. It was North Bank’s turn to jeer, and she did it, 
and the Bayside third baseman, who had something of 
a reputation as a hitter, trailed his bat disconsolately 
to the opposite bench, and, casting a brief but venomous 
glance at the pitcher, began a muttered alibi. 

“ Last man ! ” called Pop Lord. “ Let’s get him, 
Jack! Take your time! No one walks! ” 

And Jack did get him in the end, although he caused 1 
some anxious moments for Jerry and the others on the 
North Bank bench. Four fouls, long ones and impos- 
sible to reach, spoiled as many attempts on Jack’s part 
to register a third strike, and had all the appearance 
of hits until they landed. In the end it was a long 
fly to Beech in center that brought the eighth inning 
to an end and a heartfelt sigh of relief from Jerry. 

“ Here’s your last chance, fellows,” said Mr. Keegan 
as the players came in. “ Let’s tie it up in this inn- 
ing. That pitcher of their is getting wobbly and 
you can get at him if you really try. Don’t go after 
the long ones. There’s a good opening between first 
and second. Try to lam ’em through there. That 
second baseman’s as slow as molasses on hits that go 
i7i 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


to his left. You’re up, Beech. Make him give you 
good ones. That umpire’s with you and you don’t 
have to take the bad ones. Pick out one you like and 
push it past second. Go to it, son ! ” 

Ted Beech was a rattling good center fielder and, 
against certain styles of pitching, was a dependable 
batter, but to-day Embauer had held him hitless. Per- 
haps it was a realization of his failure to find the op- 
posing twirler that put Ted on his mettle. He faced 
Embauer with a cockiness that was a challenge, and 
Embauer took a second and harder look at him and 
shook his head over the catcher’s signal. When he 
did nod and wind himself up and speed the ball away 
the offering was a wide hook that Ted judged correctly 
and let pass. 

“ Tell him to put them where I can reach them,” 
he said to the catcher. “ Give him two fingers, part- 

a 

ner. 

“ Think you know our signals, do you ? ” grunted the 
boy in the mask. “All right, here’s two fingers for 
you.” He knelt, but whether it was two fingers or 
four he held out of Ted’s view, the latter never knew. 
What he did know, a moment later, was that the ball 
coming toward him looked like a straight one that 
would cut the outer corner waist-high. And he acted 
accordingly. He swung and did his level best to 
172 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


“ pull ” the hit to the right of the pitcher’s box, and 
i the next instant he had dropped the bat and was legging 
it to first while a shrill shout of joy followed him from 
the North Bank bench. It was a close shave, but he 
made it. The ball had started off straight for the 
alley between first and second, rising in its flight. 
First and second baseman went after it and it was 
; second baseman who reached it. But his attempt to 
spear it left-handed only knocked it down and, while 
Ted and Embauer sped for the bag, the first baseman 
scooped it up. Had he tossed swiftly to the base the 
pitcher might have caught it, for he reached the bag 
ahead of Ted, but the baseman made the mistake of 
trying for the putout and the result was that of the 
three players who reached the sack almost together the 
baseman was last! When Ted had made the turn and 
returned, Embauer and the first baseman were having 
a very pretty exchange of compliments and the North 
Bank players were cheering and laughing uproariously. 

Pop himself sped around to coach and Tub Keller 
walked to the plate. The Bayside pitcher was dis- 
gruntled as he stepped back to the mound, and he looked 
it. It is quite all right for a pitcher to look disgruntled, 
but a poor plan for him to feel so, as events proved. 
Tub scorned one low one that the umpire called a 
strike and then, shortening his bat, made as pretty a 

m 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


bunt down the first base line as is often seen. Just in- 
side the chalk mark it rolled and Tub was very careful 
not to interfere with it as he dug out for first. Had 
Embauer been a trifle quicker he might have tagged 
the runner on the way to base, but hurt feelings made 
him slow, and when, finally, he reached the trickling 
ball his chance of arching it over Tub’s head in time 
to get him was a forlorn one. Besides, about that 
instant the ball showed a disposition to roll over the 
line and change itself from a fair ball to a foul, and 
Embauer decided to let it. And, having reached that 
decision about the time Tub reached the base, he stood 
idly over the erratic sphere while it changed its mind 
and decided to remain fair 1 

Nothing is much more ridiculous from the oppo- 
nent’s point of view than the sight of two able-bodied 
players crouching above the base line watching a ball 
that just won’t roll outside! And North Bank en- 
joyed the crestfallen looks of the Bay side pitcher and 
catcher immensely and hooted with glee. It was the 
wild appeals of the other infielders that finally induced 
the catcher to snatch the disappointing ball from the 
ground and shoot it across to third. But Ted Beech 
had reconsidered his plan to go on and scuttled back 
to second. 

With two on and none out, Embauer felt the strain. 

174 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


The united coaching efforts of Pop Lord and Tom 
Hartley at opposite corners of the diamond did nothing 
to restore his tranquillity. Nor did the fact that he 
now had to face an unknown quantity in the shape of 
Stevens, substitute fielder, who had taken Grinnel's 
place in the batting list. Some pitchers may tell you 
that they dote on pinch hitters and “ eat 'em alive,” 
and perhaps they do if they know the hitters. But 
when they have never seen them before, and when the 
catcher can't offer any information, they are likely to 
be rather more uneasy than pleased. In the present 
case neither the Bayside catcher nor the Bayside pitcher 
knew anything as to Stevens' likes or dislikes, and since 
the philosophy of successful pitching is to give the 
batsman what he doesn’t want and make him like it 
Embauer heartily wished that the opponent’s coach had 
let well enough alone. 

There were even those on the North Bank bench 
who thought Mr. Keegan had done better to let Grinnel 
bat. Grinnel, like many pitchers, was an uncertain 
batsman who, when he did hit, hit for extra bases. 
Besides, with none out, it was felt that North Bank was 
in position to take a chance on Grinnel delivering a hit. 
But Coach Keegan wanted more than aught else to 
tie that score, and he was a great believer in going 
after what he wanted and not trusting to having some 
l 7S 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


one come along and hand it to him. With the score 
tied he would take as many chances as any one, but 
until it was he meant to waste no moves. So Grinnel 
went out of the game and Stevens went in, and Em- 
bauer shot over a first strike, something he was very 
fond of doing. 

Stevens was undismayed, however, and swung his 
bat as confidently as ever. Embauer teased him with 
a drop that went as a ball and then followed with a 
high and fast one that looked good from the benches 
but didn’t satisfy the umpire. With the score one and 
two, the Bayside pitcher attempted to sneak one over 
knee-high. That happened to be the particular style 
of ball that Stevens adored, and he lifted it far and 
high into left field. Unfortunately for him, the left 
fielder was nimble and dependable and the ball settled 
into his hands. But his throw to third was too late 
to catch Ted Beech, and he and Tub moved up a notch 
each. That out appeared to comfort Embauer and he 
looked much easier in his mind as Jackson stepped to 
the plate. But Jackson headed the visitors’ batting 
list and, with men on third and second, Coach Keegan 
looked no less easy of mind than Embauer. There is 
no need to recount the rest of that ninth inning in de- 
tail, for there was a certain monotony about it that 
Bayside, at least, found uninteresting. Jackson hit 
176 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


safely and so did Captain Lord. Conway walked. 
McGee hit to shortstop who fumbled and tossed wildly 
to second. McGee and Conway were both safe. So 
it went until, with a lead of five runs, Coach Keegan 
substituted Partridge and Royce for Sortwell and 
Beech. But even the substitutes managed to make 
good, Partridge reaching his first station after Em- 
bauer had cracked him in the ribs with the ball and 
Royce on an error by third baseman. 

The Cherry-and-Black pitcher was plainly played out, 
but, although Bayside had been warming up a new 
twirler for ten minutes, he was not used. Doubtless 
the Bayside coach concluded that the game was lost 
beyond recovery and that Embauer might as well take 
his medicine. And pretty bitter medicine it was. 
Jerry felt sorry for the lad, he had pitched fine ball 
for eight innings. But Jerry didn’t let his sympathy 
for Embauer sadden him unduly. He was much too 
pleased with North Bank’s victory. With Partridge 
on second and Royce on first, Coach Keegan mentally 
ran over the available substitutes. More tallies were 
scarcely necessary, and he wanted to give as many sec- 
ond-string players a finger in the pie as he could. So 
he called Ted Beech back, much to that youth’s dis- 
appointment, and sent in Crocker. Crocker, a sub- 
stitute catcher, was no wizard with the bat, and Bay- 
177 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


side, glum and disconsolate, essayed a feeble cheer when 
Embauer, with a brief return to form, put two strikes 
over on him in succession. But Crocker judged the 
next two correctly and picked out the fifth delivery for 
his attention. Straight at Embauer traveled the ball, 
and Embauer made a futile stab with his right hand. 
Deflected, the ball shot toward the first base line. First 
baseman and pitcher chased it. Crocker, although 
thickset, was fast on his feet, and reached the bag be- 
fore second baseman was there to cover it. Once 
again the bases were full. 

“ Benson ! ” 

Jerry looked down the line of chuckling players with 
a start. Mr. Keegan was beckoning. “ Take a 
whack,” said the coach, nodding toward the plate. 
“ Might as well clean up while you’re at it, Benson.” 
He spoke carelessly and, having spoken, returned to 
an interrupted conversation with Captain Lord. Jerry 
didn’t quite know what was meant by cleaning up, but 
the coach’s intention was clear. So he picked out a 
striped bat that held tender memories for him and 
went unhurriedly to the plate. Encouraging advice 
followed him. 

“ Bounce one off the pitcher, Jerry ! ” 

“ Make it a homer, kid ! Flatten it out ! ” 

Bay side was not too dejected to laugh when Jerry 
178 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


took his stand at the rubber. Even the catcher man- 
aged a smile as Jerry spread his long legs and poised 
the bat along the back of his shoulders. If Jerry knew 
the cause of the ripple of merriment he gave no sign. 
After a brief glance at the pitcher he set his eyes firmly 
on the ball and never lost sight of it from the moment 
Embauer spread his fingers around it until it had 
passed from vision like a gray smudge to thump into 
the catcher's mitt. 

“ Stri-i-ike ! ” announced the umpire. 

Jerry considered with bent head. Then he nodded 
agreement. Some of his team mates laughed, and Tom 
called : “ That’s only one, Jerry ! He hasn’t any 

more ! ” 

Nor had he, it seemed. The next delivery was wide 
of the plate and the following one was so wild that 
only a supreme effort by the catcher kept the ball from 
going past to the backstop. Friend and foe alike ap- 
plauded the play and Partridge danced disappointedly 
back to third base. Embauer tried very hard to cut a 
corner with an v 6utshoot and failed by an inch or two. 

“ One and three! ” advised the umpire, holding his 
fingers aloft. 

“ Let him walk you, Jerry! ” came the call from the 
bench. “ Wait him out, old son ! ” 

But Jerry knew nothing about being walked. He 
179 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


never yet had gained his base in that fashion and didn’t 
mean to now. But Embauer didn’t know that, nor 
did the catcher, and so the former’s next effort was a 
fast and straight ball that tried to glide across the rub- 
ber about opposite the top button of Jerry’s gray shirt. 
Probably that ball got the surprise of its brief career 
just then, for Jerry’s eager arms brought the bat 
around swiftly and Jerry’s muscles concentrated on 
pushing the ball into the next county. Of course, he 
didn’t succeed, although for one short moment it did 
look as if he might, for the ball started off with all 
the enthusiasm in the world. And so did Jerry, his 
long legs twinkling as he raced for the base. North 
Bank roared encouragement and delight. Partridge 
waited, midway between third and home, ready to go 
on or back, and Royce and Crocker were on their toes. 
Far and high sped the ball. Left fielder and center 
fielder were running back, converging as they went. 
Then the flying sphere descended and Partridge re- 
turned to third and waited. After all, he would have 
plenty of time! Down came the ball. Then, on a 
sudden, the North Bank players on the bench arose as 
one man and howled gleefully. Too many cooks had 
spoiled the broth ! The ball thumped to the sod mid- 
way between the two fielders, each of whom, as it ap- 
peared, had left the job of catching it to the other! 

180 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


In trotted Partridge, in sped Royce, in raced Crocker. 
But now the ball was speeding to second baseman, and 
now it was traveling home, and at third Tub Keller 
reached forth and violently yanked Jerry back to the 
bag. Some there were who afterwards maintained 
that Jerry’s hit might have been stretched from a three- 
bagger to a home run, but Jerry was no Meredith, and, 
while a faster runner might possibly have reached the 
plate ahead of second baseman’s desperate peg, it is 
doubtful if he could have. In any event, Tub didn’t 
let him try, and Jerry, forcibly returned to the bag, 
sat down, blinking, and untroubledly strove to recover 
some of the breath he had left between the plate and 
his present station. 

Then, perhaps only because the afternoon was wan- 
ing and the visitors had a train to catch, the Bayside 
coach removed Mr. Embauer, who was accorded de- 
served applause from both sides of the diamond, and 
substituted a tall and lanky youth who, after passing 
Jackson, caused Pop Lord to fly out to right and Con- 
way to fan helplessly, thus bringing to an end the most 
remarkable half inning in the records of either school. 
North Bank had sent fifteen men to bat and had scored 
eleven runs, for Jerry had raced home on Lord’s sac- 
rifice fly. Manager Birkenside’s score book, so far 
181 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


as one page of it was concerned, looked strangely 
crowded and confused! 

The visitors went out for the last of the ninth with 
a much altered line-up. The new battery was Train 
and Crocker and an entirely new outfield was presented. 
The outfielders, however, might just as well have re- 
mained on the bench, for Bay side, in spite of a de- 
termination to reduce the enemy’s lead, failed to hit 
out of the infield and got only one man on base when 
McGee booted an easy one. The runner, with one out, 
worked a daring steal, but he never got beyond second, 
for Train had a nice command of the ball and it takes 
more than determination to earn runs. The last man 
went out, Hartley to Lord, and the long contest was 
over, the score 15 to 5. 

Most of the way home on the train, while the rest 
of the crowd, tired and hungry but well contented, 
sang anch roistered, Birkenside wrestled with his score, 
calling frequently for help. When, at last, he had 
added the final total and set it down in its proper com- 
partment he poised his pen above a line that held the 
words “ Length of game ” and after a moment of men- 
tal reckoning set down the characters “ 2 Hrs., 43 
Mins.”! 

Jerry received no special commendation for that 
three-base hit of his. After all, it had only been saved 
182 


IN THE NINTH INNING 


from a nice sacrifice fly by the stupidity of the fielders. 
For that matter, however, Jerry wasn’t expecting com- 
mendation, and so wasn’t disappointed. Tom tried to 
pretend that Jerry had distinguished himself nobly, but 
Jerry wouldn’t be fooled. “ Reckon,” he said, “ those 
fellers got the sun in their eyes or something. It 
wasn’t no safe hit, Tom.” One thing his performance 
that afternoon did do, though, was to convince Coach 
Keegan that Jerry might become a valuable asset to 
the nine as a pinch hitter, for, as he remarked to Pop 
Lord later, “ The chap’s got an almighty wallop, Cap, 
and he isn’t afraid of anything you can pitch him ! ” 


CHAPTER XVI 
THE GREAT DISCOVERY 

A WEEK later Jerry finished his labors for 
Major Laurence. The garden had been dug 
from end to end and half a dozen minor jobs 
attended to, and Jerry was in possession of the munif- 
icent sum of thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents; 
or he would have been if the purchase of baseball togs, 
a new cap, a tin lantern and some other articles hadn’t 
reduced his capital by half. A light-colored darky, re- 
leased from oyster fishing, took over Jerry’s duties. 
But the Major enjoined the latter not to forget to come 
and see him now and then and Jerry promised. There 
had been several talks subsequent to that first one on 
the subject of the boy’s future and Jerry had already 
made up his mind to take up the study of Law as soon 
as might be, and, following the Major’s advice, had 
become a diligent and omnivorous student of history. 
When he had exhausted the possibilities of the school 
library the Major loaned him a twelve-volume history 
of the French Republic and Jerry finished the Spring 
term on it. There was a short recess in April and most 
184 


THE GREAT DISCOVERY 


of the students went home. Jerry, however, remained 
at school and had a simply glorious time reading and 
taking long tramps in the woods. Occasionally there 
was a game of ball amongst the thirty odd fellows re- 
maining, and at such times Jerry was greatly in demand 
because of his prowess with the bat and alternated be- 
tween the opposing teams. On one occasion, ambling 
across to The Poplars one afternoon, he found the 
Major and his wife having tea on the wide back ver- 
anda that overlooked the river and the white buildings 
of the Naval Academy in the distance. Jerry was for 
taking himself off again, but that the Laurences 
wouldn’t hear of, and so he found himself sitting on the 
edge of a chair, drinking tea and eating biscuits and 
responding less and less embarrassedly to his host’s 
efforts to make him feel at home. Mrs. Laurence 
was small and dark, with a winning smile and a soft 
and pleasant voice, and Jerry didn’t hold out against her 
long. That afternoon proved one of the pleasant- 
est he had ever known. He recalled afterwards that 
he had sometimes lapsed into the homely and un- 
grammatical speech of his preschool days, and was a 
bit ashamed. But he comforted himself with the 
thought that if he had talked very badly they wouldn’t 
have asked him to dinner two evenings later, which 
; was just what they had done! 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


The dinner, although only his host and hostess were 
present with him, proved somewhat of a trial to Jerry. 
There were more forks and spoons and knives than he 
had ever seen collected on one table before and the 
food was far too various for his taste. But he strug- 
gled through somehow, eating, if the truth must be 
told, much less than he wanted to. Afterwards Mrs. 
Laurence played for them in the big, comfortable liv- 
ing room, and still later Jerry and the Major talked 
long of a great many subjects, and the Major, who 
had a remarkable fund of stories and anecdotes and 
a rare manner of telling them, kept the guest spellbound 
until he made the disconcerting discovery that the hour 
was long past nine. 

But neither social diversions nor ball playing gave 
Jerry quite the pleasure he got from rambling through 
the forests or along the river. If he had only had a 
dog and a gun he would have been supremely happy. 
Or, failing the gun, just the dog would have satisfied 
him. The trees were out in full leaf by then and the 
woods were even lovelier, he decided, than they were 
back home. For one thing, there was a far greater va- 
riety of trees, many of which he didn’t even know the 
names of. The weather, with the exception of one 
day, remained warm and pleasant, and many an after- 
noon, with a volume of history under his nose, Jerry 
1 86 


THE GREAT DISCOVERY 


lay sprawled on some sun-flecked bank above the blue 
river and alternately read and dreamed. 

He missed Tom a good deal, and sometimes wished 
that he had accepted the invitation to go to New York 
with him. Usually, however, he didn’t, realizing that 
he neither had the clothes nor the money for such a 
visit. It was enough that Tom had been sincere in 
wanting him to go, had even got a trifle disgruntled 
when he found that he couldn’t shake Jerry’s deter- 
mination not to. 'Mr. Ledyard had tried to be very 
friendly to Jerry — the secretary’s duties had kept 
him at the school during all but two days of the recess 
— but Jerry somehow didn’t take to Mr. Ledyard- 
Perhaps he suspected the secretary of patronage. He 
did spend one evening with him, but the friendship 
went no further. Some of the boys who remained, 
juniors most of them, were very nice and would have 
made Jerry welcome at their feasts and games, 
but Jerry was rather shy with strangers and his 
evenings were generally spent, quite contentedly, in 
Number 7. 

It was two days before the end of the Spring recess 
that Jerry made his great discovery. He had secured 
leave for the whole day and, with three sandwiches 
stowed in one pocket and a cake of chocolate in an- 
other, he took to the road soon after breakfast. The 
187 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

road followed the river in a general way and then, 
crossing the stream on a rickety wooden bridge, wan- 
dered off westward, gradually degenerating into a 
rutted and gullied pink-clay streak between woods and 
fields. Jerry didn’t stay with it so long, however, 
for the forest called him. Some two miles from the 
school he turned off and, skirting a tobacco field, en- 
tered the green slopes of the rolling country beyond. 
Presently he had to make a detour to avoid a large pond 
in which frogs were still croaking their morning ex- 
ercises, and was soon halted by a stream that, he sup- 
posed, flowed into the river further along. It was only 
about eight feet wide, that quiet little brook, but the 
trees came close to it on Jerry’s side and there was no 
chance for a run, and without a run and a good take- 
off Jerry was fairly certain to alight well short of the 
further bank. He contemplated removing his shoes 
and socks, but just then an alternative presented itself 
in the shape of a sapling which, broken just above the 
ground, needed but a few tugs and twists to wrench it 
loose. Jerry broke off the few upper branches and 
tested it. It seemed well-seasoned and quite strong 
enough to bear his weight for a moment. So he 
placed the splintered end in midstream, drew back as 
far as he could from the edge and sprang, his hands 
grasping the pole above his head. (But the two steps 
1 88 


THE GREAT DISCOVERY 


he had taken were not enough, and after dangling 
doubtfully a moment over midstream, he was lucky 
r enough to land back where he had started from. He 
went further down the brook and found a place where, 
if he could manage not to stumble over a root, he might 
do better. This time he used the sapling as he had 
seen the pole vaulters use their poles, taking a short run 
of a few steps and, as he came to the edge of the stream, 
thrusting one end into the water and launching him- 
self up and forward. Everything went beautifully 
until he had swung past the zenith of his flight. Then 
there was a smart cracking sound and Jerry descended 
with much velocity into the brook ! 

He struck flat on his back, or nearly so. At all 
events, he managed to get wet from head to feet, and 
a hidden log or stone — he didn’t think it worth 
while to determine which — came in violent con- 
tact with the small of his back, so that for an instant 
he wallowed about quite helplessly in the water. When 
he finally got his feet under him and staggered out he 
was a sorry-looking object. Rdtted leaves, stirred 
from the bottom of the brook, were plastered over him 
and he had thrust his feet into the margin of mud and 
sand under the bank. For a moment he viewed him- 
' self in disgust. Then his eyes began to twinkle and 
j his mouth curved in a wide grin. 

189 


THKEE-BASE BENSON 


“ Reckon/’ he chuckled aloud, “ it would have been 
cheaper if I’d just naturally waded it! ” 

He rescued the sandwiches and chocolate and, re- 
moving the sopping paper, spread them out on a stone 
in the sunlight. Then he emptied his wet pockets of 
other treasures, his nickel watch, a knife, some change, 
a sodden handkerchief and a fortnight-old letter from 
Pap Huckins. These he likewise placed to dry. 
-After that he stripped to the skin and adorned the 
branches of neighboring trees with his clothing. For- 
tunately, there were fewer trees on this side of the 
brook and the sunlight fell through in broad patches. 
Fortunately, too, the April morning was warm and, 
in the woods, still. Jerry trotted around a minute in 
a little patch of warmth and then considered his situ- 
ation. It would be some time before his clothes would 
be dry. Meanwhile the morning air just lacked suf- 
ficient warmth to make standing around pleasant. He 
held his watch to his ear, found that it was still going 
bravely and saw that the time was but a little after 
nine. So far as he knew, there was no human habita- 
tion anywhere near him, and it would be quite safe to 
“project” about while his things were drying. So 
presently he went on, keeping along the side of one of 
the little knolls, more than once vainly trying to thrust 
his hands in his pockets. One knoll succeeded another, 
190 


THE GREAT DISCOVERY 

and after awhile he made his way to the summit of one. 
If he had expected to find a view from there he was 

( disappointed, for it gave him only the sight of green 
forest dipping and rolling on every side. He sat 
down for a minute, his back against the bole of a big 
poplar, and basked in the sunlight. But, while the 
sun held warmth, there was a faint breeze stirring up 
here and he was soon on his feet again. And, rising, 
something that wasn’t a tree trunk showed on the next 
hillside. He stared perplexedly, crouching and peer- 
ing. It looked something like a weather-faded board 
fence, though what a fence should be doing back here 
in the forest he couldn’t conceive. In the end curi- 
osity took him down one slope and up another and 
brought him in a minute in sight of a small cabin. 
There was a chimney at one end — he was facing 
the front of the cabin — formed of short pieces of 
wood and yellow clay. The door swung inward, held 
only by one leather hinge. A square opening beside 
the door was empty of glass or shutter. Before the 
cabin stood the remains of a stone fireplace. A dozen 
feet distant from where Jerry stood and reconnoi- 
tered a faintly perceptible path wound down the knoll 
in the direction of the brook. An untidy litter of 
empty cans had been mercifully hidden to some ex- 
tent by fallen leaves. 

191 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

Jerry was scarcely in condition to pay a call, but 
after a minute’s further contemplation of the cabin 
he decided that it was safe to take a nearer look, for 
the sagging door, the smokeless chimney and the empty 
socket of a window told their tale plainly. The 
trees atop the little hill had been cleared away to make 
room for the shack, and hidden though it was in the 
deep woods, the site was attractive. Sunlight fell 
gayly on the warped and splintered boards of wall and 
roof and the shadows of the young leaves traced a 
lacy pattern over them. Jerry approached the door- 
way with lively curiosity. There is something about 
a deserted habitation, no matter how old and decrepit, 
that hints of mystery and arouses speculation. 
Silently Jerry peered through beyond the half-opened 
door. Inside was twilight and stillness. Wide boards 
formed a floor, and on it lay a litter of discarded things : 
a rusty frying pan, a cotton jumper, some scraps of 
paper, an empty shotgun shell, a broken-bladed knife 
and many corncobs. The floor was dirty and stained, 
and even charred where, at one end of the single room, 
a tumble-down stove poked a crazy pipe into the chim- 
ney outside. Near the stove was a box nailed to the 
wall, evidently once used as shelves. But nothing else 
remotely resembling furniture remained. Jerry picked 
192 


THE GREAT DISCOVERY 


up a half sheet of newspaper, yellow and crackly. It 
bore a date of three years previous. 

Perhaps, he reflected, some one had once used the 
cabin for hunting. There were, so he had heard, quail 
and rabbits to be shot hereabouts. Indeed, he had 
seen more than one rabbit himself. He examined the 
door. A new hinge at the bottom would put it right. 
As to the two windows — there was one in the rear 
as well as the front — he could not see that they had 
ever been protected by anything save mosquito netting, 
tattered remnants of which still hung about the inner 
frame. Jerry wondered whom the place belonged to. 
After that he wished for a broom that he might clear 
it out, and still later he was making a mental list of 
necessary articles: a hatchet, some nails, a strip of 
leather, first of all. To Jerry a deserted cabin in the 
woods suggested but one thing and suggested that 
strongly — instant possession! Already he pictured 
himself frying bacon on the stove and subsequently 
curling himself up on a nonexistent bed of boughs. 
He tried again to thrust his hands into his pockets. 
Having hands in pockets was always a great aid to 
thought with Jerry. As the pockets were missing he 
made up his mind to go and get them. First, though, 
he pried off one of the warped lids from the little 
sheet-iron stove. Some charred embers were re- 
193 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


vealed and, so far as he could determine, the stove 
was quite usable. He gathered an armful of dry 
wood before he recalled the fact that he had no way 
of lighting it ! 


CHAPTER XVII 
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 

6 6 1| ECKON the feller that lived here had 
matches, though,” he reflected half aloud. 

JL “ Maybe there's one around somewhere.” 
Then began a most careful and minute search that 
ended after some time in the discovery of a match head 
and about a half inch of stick attached to it in a crack 
between two boards. It looked all right, too. He 
gathered the brittle, yellowed paper from the floor 
and laid it in the stove. Then he selected the driest 
and most resinous of the bits of wood and placed them 
carefully atop the paper. Finally, holding a wisp of 
the paper in his left hand, he anxiously drew the match 
head along the edge of the stove. The first attempt 
brought no result, but at the second there was a heart- 
ening little crackle and the match lighted. Jerry held 
the paper to it and then tucked the flaming torch down 
to the bottom of his pile. Success was instantaneous. 
So was smoke. By the time he had filled the tiny fire 
box with wood and slid the cover back on again it was 
necessary to seek the door. That something was 
195 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


radically wrong with the draft was very evident, but 
that was a small matter just then. The important thing 
was that he had heat to dry his clothing, and leaving 
his newly-discovered residence he hurried back for his 
possessions. Jle found them without trouble and re- 
turned to the cabin. The fire was burning most en- 
thusiastically, the top of the stove was red-hot in places 
and the smoke poured merrily from every crevice. 

Choking but happy, Jerry improvised a rack of a 
maple branch and hung his clothes over it. Twice it 
fell to the floor, but eventually he got it to stay, one 
end on the box nailed by the stove and the other poked 
into a crevice of the end wall. Then he gathered more 
fuel and heaped it conveniently by the stove. It began 
to be unpleasantly warm inside and he took his knife 
and went out again. Finding a straight, stiff branch 
an inch thick, he fell to work and severed it from the 
parent stem. Then he trimmed off the twigs at one 
end and began to cut smaller branches some two feet 
long. When he had enough of the latter he pulled 
some creeping vines from the soft, leafy earth, bring- 
ing the brown roots with them. The roots he cut off 
and then, holding the shorter branches around one end 
of the stick, he bound them there with the pliable 
tendrils. When his work was finished he had a very 
satisfactory broom, and, returning to the smoke-filled 
196 


THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 


cabin, he set to work. Cobwebs, litter and dust were 
alike attacked, and presently he stopped, panting and 
gasping, and viewed with tear-filled eyes the result of 
Jhis labor. The cabin looked quite respectable and 
Jerry’s heart warmed to it anew. With a bed over 
there — just a frame with branches and leaves piled 
on it — a couple of boxes for chairs and a table such 
as he could soon knock together with hatchet and nails, 
the place would be palatial! Perhaps Jerry didn’t use 
the word palatial, but it is what he meant. 

Then he faced the problem of the smoky stove. 
There were no dampers save one halfway up the sag- 
ging pipe, and that experiment showed to be properly 
open. So he went outside and viewed the little chim- 
ney of cross sticks and clay. That, too, appeared to 
be all right save that the amount of blue smoke escaping 
from the top into the sunlight was about a quarter of 
what was going into the cabin! It was no task to 
squirm to the roof, and once there the mystery was 
solved. The opening of the chimney was choked with 
an accumulation of leaves and twigs, and when these 
were pulled out a veritable volcano of smoke followed. 
After that the little stove behaved very well, although 
it proved a most greedy consumer of fuel, and manipu- 
lation of the pipe damper appeared to have no effect 
on its appetite. However, fuel was plentiful and Jerry 
197 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


didn’t begrudge it. By this time his clothes, if not 
actually tinder-dry, were fit to put on again, and he 
dressed, disposed his watch and other treasures in their 
various pockets and considered his next undertaking. 

Without a hatchet, however, there wasn’t much he 
could do. He looked at his watch, still going in spite 
of its recent immersion in the brook, and found that 
the time was just short of eleven. The distance from 
school was not more than two miles, he judged. He 
could return there, borrow a hatchet and some nails 
from Cicero, and get back in time to eat his lunch in 
his own dwelling. For Jerry no longer thought of the 
cabin as any one’s property save his ! So, making sure 
that the fire was safe to leave, he started out, following 
the path that led down the hillock. The path brought 
him, as he had supposed it would, to the brook at a 
place some twenty yards beyond where he had crossed 
it so sensationally. But here there was a tree trunk 
athwart the stream, and its worn surface showed that 
it had been frequently used as a bridge. It looked 
rather rotten, but Jerry took a chance on it and crossed 
safely. The path turned to the left and wound through 
the woods in the general direction of the road. In 
some places it was hard to follow, since it had probably 
not been used in some time, and young shrubs and 
weeds had taken possession. But his wood lore car- 
198 


THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 


ried him to the end and he came out on the road. He 
blazed a sapling at the entrance so that he might readily 
find it again and set forth for North Bank. 

By the time he was back at the school his mental list 
of requirements had lengthened remarkably, and he 
spent nearly a half hour there collecting his articles. 
The hatchet and nails were speedily found, and so was 
a box of matches and a piece of harness strap, but a 
coffeepot and some coffee and a little sugar required 
time and diplomacy. Fortunately, the colored cook, 
an ancient, white-wooled darky, was good-natured, and 
Jerry’s explanation that he wanted to have a picnic in 
the woods and cook his own food aroused a sympathetic 
memory, perhaps. At all events, the colored woman 
found an old, discolored enamel-ware coffeepot after 
some search and poured a good half pound of coffee 
into it. The sugar went into a paper bag. Then 
Jerry became the recipient without intent of three eggs 
and a small slice of ham. At the cook’s suggestion, 
he made his way from the kitchen by the back entrance, 
thus escaping the likelihood of meeting the inquisitive 
gaze of such of the faculty as remained at school. He 
reached the stable by a circuitous route and gathered 
the rest of his load, which, at the last moment, was 
made to include an empty box. While he was within 
sight of the grounds — most of the boys were on the 
199 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


ball field — he swung the box carelessly in one hand, 
but later, on the road, he emptied his other loot into 
it and placed it comfortably on his head. Of course 
he remembered when he was halfway back to the cabin 
that he should have provided himself with a knife and 
fork and spoon, but those were things that for the 
present could be fashioned with a jackknife. The re- 
turn trip was not so easy, for the sun was considerably 
warmer and it tired his arms to hold the box in place. 
Occasionally he shifted the latter to one shoulder or 
the other and brought relief to aching muscles. He 
missed the blaze and had to retrace his steps quite 
some distance before he found it. The half shade of 
the woods was a welcome relief after the glare of the 
road and he set down his burden and himself and rested. 
It was nearly half past twelve when the cabin came 
into sight once more and well after that time when a 
new fire had been built — at the expense of many 
matches, since he had neglected to bring more paper — 
and the old frying pan, thoroughly cleaned with sand 
and water, held the slice of ham and one of the eggs. 
Jerry decided to save the other two eggs against a 
future visit. 

Coffee-making was a crude and expeditious cere- 
mony with Jerry. He dumped about two tablespoon- 
fuls of the ground coffee and the eggshell into the pot, 


200 


THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 


half filled it with water from the brook, set it on the 
stove — and remembered that he had neither cup nor 
mug! That was a serious lack, but he decided that it 
wouldn’t keep him from having coffee for dinner; for 
he had begun to think of the impending feast as dinner 
rather than luncheon. Luncheon, anyway, was some- 
thing Jerry had never heard of before coming to North 
Bank. At home a meal was one of four things, a 
breakfast, a dinner, a supper or a “ snack,” and the 
present repast was far too hearty to deserve the name 
of snack. While the ham and egg frizzled cheerfully 
and the coffee began to ooze vapor from the blunt 
spout of the pot, Jerry set about fashioning utensils. 
A pointed stick served as a fork and a shovel-shaped 
stick as a spoon : he had a knife ready to hand. The 
empty box was placed bottom-up and became a table. 
On it Jerry spread his banquet: the sandwiches — a 
trifle soggy, but still appetizing — the cake of choco- 
late and, presently, the frying pan containing a sizzling 
slice of ham and a golden-and-white egg. The coffee 
pot, lid open, was placed at the doorway to cool while 
Jerry hungrily attacked the food. As the table was 
low, he took his place on the floor beside it. He wished 
that he had some drinking water, but there was nothing 
to hold it. Besides, he had somewhere read that it 
was not healthful to drink water with your meals! 


201 


l THREE-BASE BENSON 


So Jerry feasted, with the open door an oblong of 
golden sunlight and the window beside it a square of 
tender green, with the little stove cooling to an accom- 
paniment of sharp cracking sounds and the ham still 
sizzling softly in the hot pan. He had set his “ table ” 
near the doorway for coolness, and presently, by the 
simple expedient of rolling over and rolling back again, 
he added the coffee to the repast. The first time he 
tried to drink it, after adding sugar and stirring it 
with his improvised spoon, he burned his lips against 
the rim of the pot. Even after that it was no easy 
matter, for the lid got in his way, but the coffee wasn’t 
half bad and he was satisfied. That meal tasted far 
better than had any meal for a long, long time, and 
when he had sopped up the last drop of ham fat with 
a last scrap of bread and drained the last drop of coffee 
— together with some of the grounds — he went out 
to the shade of the trees at the back of the hut and con- 
sumed his dessert. And wfien the cake of chocolate 
had gone the way of all else he went down the path 
and, sprawling on the log that crossed the brook, drank 
his fill of the cool, clear water. 

Back at the cabin, he seated himself on the low sill 
and laid his plans, searching the near-by wood for ma- 
terial. Presently he was up again, hatchet in hand, and 
had set to work. The sun passed overhead and was 


202 


THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 


well down the afternoon sky by the time he ceased. 
But the cabin had suffered quite a transformation. 
The door hung evenly on two hinges and, although 
* there was no way to fasten it from without, bolted 

I securely from the inside. In the end away from the 
stove was a low bed formed of green maple wood. 
For this he had cut two and three inch saplings and 

■ with them worked out a design of his own. Instead 

I 

of trying to set the bed on upright legs, he took two 
| lengths about four feet long and spread them in a wide 
, V. Then he crossed them with a third piece two and 
a half feet in length and securely nailed it there. He 
repeated the operation and had “ headboard ” and 
“ footboard.” His next task, that of securing side 
I strips to the crosspieces, was not so easy, for his work- 
bench, which had been a dining table an hour before, 
was too low, but he succeeded finally. Then, his two 
IjV’s having been inverted into A’s, he was ready for 
: his slats. As he had fitted the upper ends of the slant- 
ing pieces forming the sides of the A’s together as 
closely as was possible with only a hatchet and a knife 
to work with, and nailed them so, the danger of the 
legs of his bed spreading was obviated. The more 
weight that was placed on them the closer they pressed 
‘together at the apex. There was, however, a tendency 
on the part of the bed to sway endwise, and this feature 
203 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


he had to remedy with braces running from side rails 
to legs, which to some extent marred the symmetry of 
the article. After that he laid inch-sized poles cross- 
wise of the bed and, because the green wood split when 
he tried to nail it, bound them there with withes. In 
a way, while less secure, the withes were better since 
they allowed more play when Jerry experimentally 
stretched himself on the bed. Then he piled small 
branches atop his slats and went far afield for armfuls 
of bracken and ferns to top the whole. And when he 
had finished and again laid his now somewhat tired 
body down the result was so successful that he had 
hard work urging himself up again! 

A table had been easier, though when the wood is 
green and your hatchet only fairly sharp, manufactur- 
ing furniture is something of a slow and tedious task, 
and long before he had finished the second article of his 
suit his arms were pretty tired. The table was not 
a very ambitious affair. It stood on four not overly 
straight legs, braced at the comers, and its top was 
formed of the bottom and one side of the empty box. 
When he set it up near the stove it wobbled badly, but, 
lacking a saw, he hadn’t the heart to tackle the task of 
making the legs even. That could wait for another day. 

There was still work to be done, for coffeepot and 
204 


THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 


skillet confronted him, and he took them rather tiredly 
down to the brook and cleaned them, setting them at 
last against the front of the cabin to dry in the sun. 

* After a rest, ambition returned and he spent ten min- 
utes gathering firewood and piling it beside the stove. 
On his next visit, he reflected, he might be glad to find 
fuel ready to his hand, especially if it should rain 
meanwhile. Having neither pencil nor fountain pen 
with him, he couldn’t set down as he wished he might 
the list of things he meant to bring back the next time : 
a saw, another empty box — two if he could manage 
them — more nails, plenty of stout cord, a pail for 
water, a padlock for the door, two tin cups, fork, knife 
and two spoons, a cake of soap — the list was inter- 
minable ! And, of course, he must have food as well ! 
In the end he took a piece of charcoal, wrenched an- 
other board from the vanishing box and wrote down 
everything he could think of. He would carry the 
board home with him and so have the list to refer to. 
He ended the visit by rebuilding the stone fireplace out 
front, and finally, when the spring shadows were 
lengthening, closed the door from the inside, shot the 
wooden bolt and squirmed through a window, carrying 
hatchet and board. So ended Jerry’s perfect day ; per- 
fect save for one slight mishap. In carrying the board 
home Jerry tucked it under one arm and when, later, he 
tried to read his list there was nothing there to read ! 


CHAPTER XVIII 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 

J 2RRY arose the next morning very happy in 
the knowledge that he was the possessor of his 
own home. He had long since ceased to en- 
tertain the thought of any one else having the least 
claim to it It was his, he considered, by the right 
of discovery, preemption, possession and by every other 
right. Or perhaps it would be* nearer the truth to say 
that he would have so considered had he given any 
thought to the matter. Which he didn’t. In the bath- 
tub that morning he found his happiness dimmed by 
the reflection that he had no one with- whom to share 
his pleasure. There was young Pringle, a decent 
fourth class lad whom he rather liked, but something 
told him that Archie Pringle would be unable to under- 
stand and sympathize with his enthusiasm for a 
weather-beaten, sway-backed, shack two miles from 
civilization. Jerry wished that Tom was there. Tom 
would kick like a steer at walking the distance, but, 
once there, he would like that cabin nearly as much 
206 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


as Jerry did. Well, Tom would be back the next day, 
which was Thursday, and surely no later than Sunday 
Jerry could hale him off and exhibit his new treasure 
to him. Comforted by that thought, Jerry realized the 
fact that he was still in the bathtub. 

Mr. Hiltower, to whom Jerry applied for another 
day’s leave after breakfast, showed mild surprise and 
some hesitation. “ Aren’t you overdoing it, Benson ? ” 
he asked. “ You were away all day yesterday, were 
you not ? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” Jerry would have liked to explain to 
the instructor, but he somehow feared that the latter 
wouldn’t understand much better than young Pringle. 

“ Hm,” mused Mr. Hiltower. “ Going to the city? ” 

“No, sir, to the — the country.” 

Mr. Hiltower seemed to find that slightly amusing. 
“ Well, you oughtn’t to have to go very far to do that,” 
he chuckled. “ What do you do in the country, Ben- 
son? Commune with Nature and all that sort of 
thing?” 

“I just walk, sir, and — and sometimes I take a 
book with me and read.” Then, reflecting that pos- 
sibly the reply was a trifle misleading, he added: “ To- 
day I’m going to an old cabin back in the woods, sir. 
I found it yesterday.” 

“ An old cabin? Quite interesting! Well, well, all 
20 7 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


right, Benson. Pursue your adventures, my boy. But 
see that you're back by five." 

Jerry had his troubles that morning. By the time 
he had collected as many of the articles on the van- 
ished list as he could remember and piled them into 
an empty soap box in the stable his movements had 
been observed by his companions and he had become 
an object of much interest. While he was endeavor- 
ing to induce a borrowed saw to live in peace at the 
bottom of the box with the hatchet and the cups 
and many other articles, the doorway was darkened 
and three inquisitive youths demanded enlighten- 
ment. 

“ What are you doing, Benson? " asked one. 

“ Putting some things in a box," answered Jerry 
truthfully. 

“ What for ? What are you going to do with 
them?" 

“ I’m going into the woods for the day. Going to 
camp." 

“ Honest? Say, let me go along, will you? " 

“ Me, too, Benson ! " 

Jerry shook his head. “ This is a one-man camp," 
he answered coldly. “ Anyway, I'm tramping too far 
for you fellers." 

“ Oh, come on! Take me with you! I don’t mind 
208 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 

walking, and I’ll tote part of the stuff. What you got 
to eat ? ” 

“ Only enough for me, sonny.” Jerry’s load was 
ready and he removed it from under the eager eyes of 
the boys and put it on his shoulder. They followed 
him as far as the road, reenforced by several others 
from the tennis courts, plaintively begging to be al- 
lowed to accompany him. Jeri»y, however, was ob- 
durate, even if smilingly so, and plaints became com- 
plaints and he took his departure pursued by gibes and 
insults. One small youth capped all the expressions 
of hostility by shouting shrilly.: “Hope you sit on a 
snake! ” 

Another busy and happy day followed for Jerry. 
He performed a delicate operation with the saw that 
left the table without a limp, he made a short, low 
bench to sit on, he cleaned the stove and greased it, 
he tidied up outside and he transformed the soap box 
he had brought with him into a wood box by filling 
it with dry branches and twigs. He had brought no 
food to cook, but he had four sandwiches and an- 
other cake of chocolate and he made himself some coffee 
as before. This time he drank in a civilized fashion 
from a cracked cup that had no saucer — tin cups were 
not to be had short of purchase — but he wasn’t sure 
that the coffee tasted any better. The two eggs left 
209 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


from yesterday he still treasured. The birds had ap- 
parently discovered that the queer little house was in- 
habited, for they were far more numerous than yes- 
terday and Jerry divided his fourth sandwich with 
them, sprinkling the crumbs before the door. He had 
another visitor, too, in the small shape of a red squirrel 
who came almost to the door and there sat himself up 
on his hind legs and scolded roundly. Having neither 
nuts nor corn, Jerry offered him a piece of bread, 
but Mr. Squirrel would have none of it. 

“ Tell you what I’ll do,” said Jerry placatingly. 
“ Next time I come I’ll bring you a potato. Like that, 
would you ? ” 

The squirrel appeared to consider and then began to 
scold again as loudly as before. 

“ Well, then, I’ll see can I find some nuts for you,” 
said Jerry. “ But you ain’t going to get anything by 
calling me names, neighbor! ” 

After his dinner he built a fire in the outdoor fire- 
place, just to see how it would burn, and was curiously 
observed by a blue jay from the top of a neighboring 
tree. The result satisfied Jerry, but the jay laughed 
derisively. To-day a volume of history had accom- 
panied the boy, and about two o’clock he laid himself 
down on the slope of the little knoll and read, breaking 
off at intervals to gaze proudly at the cabin and to 


210 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


think of new ways to make it more attractive and 
homy. When it came time to go back to school he 
felt rather forlorn. Leaving the hut was almost like 
leaving home. As he had not yet brought a padlock, 
he bolted the door from inside, as before, and emerged 
through a window. Then, the borrowed tools in hand, 
he set off with many a backward glance. 

It was on that homeward trip that his Great Idea 
came to Jerry. It appeared first as a very small idea, 
a mere fancy, and it had almost disappeared into noth- 
ingness when Jerry grabbed it back, looked it over and 
began to build on to it. And as it grew Jerry’s eyes 
got rounder and rounder, and more than once he 
stopped short in the road and stared ahead as one who 
sees visions. At last, the idea having assumed a mar- 
velous shape and a truly stupendous size, he ended the 
homeward journey at something just short of a trot, 
so eager was he to reach a piece of paper and a pencil. 

Back in Number 7, in the hour that remained before 
supper time, he did much figuring, covering more than 
one sheet of paper with numerals and words and mean- 
ingless scrawls. Some of the things he figured on may 
sound strange and unrelated, as, for instance, the num- 
ber of weeks remaining before school closed for the 
summer — which was eight — and the price of a 
smoked ham weighing twelve pounds at, say, forty- 


211 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


two cents a pound ! He did much more figuring, and 
in the middle of it, the supper gong rang and he had 
to leave his engrossing task with a sigh of regret. 

His table companions were full of questions regard- 
ing his camping trip, but Jerry was unusually absent- 
minded and uncommunicative this evening. After sup- 
per he hurried back to the room and a half hour later 
he hurried down again and across to Ellicot House 
where he, not without trepidation, sought and obtained 
audience of the Principal. That conference lasted 
nearly twenty minutes and Jerry emerged from it with 
a smile and a warm and grateful feeling for Doctor 
Heidler. It was late when he crawled between the 
sheets that night and much later when sleep came to 
him. Even then his busy brain didn’t quite stop its 
work, for when he awoke in the morning he was con- 
scious of having dreamed many weird and wonderful 
things, none of which he could recall, however. 

At two o’clock the first of the returning students 
began to arrive and the silence and emptiness of the 
past ten days was over. Tom didn’t get back until a 
half hour before supper, and then he had so much to 
tell that Jerry, himself bursting with news, had to keep 
his mouth tightly closed lest he interrupt the other’s 
flow. Tom had had a corking time and Jerry had 
certainly missed it by not going north with him. It 


212 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


was too bad, and Dad had been mighty sorry when he 
learned that Jerry hadn’t come. And Jerry must have 
had a pretty dull old time of it down here all alone! 

And Jerry, who had enjoyed himself as he hadn’t 
done for a long, long time, had to keep still under such 
provocation as was contained in that last sympathetic 
statement ! 

But his time came at last. Supper over, he and Tom 
went back to the room, Tom to unpack his small trunk 
and Jerry to sprawl beside him and tell his adventures. 
Tom opened his eyes very wide and observed his chum 
with vast respect when Jerry told of that afternoon 
tea and of the subsequent dinner at the Laurence’s. 
And a minute later he stood engrossed, a dinner jacket 
in one hand and a pair of patent leather pumps in the 
other, while Jerry dramatically recounted his discovery 
of the deserted cabin. Perhaps he showed a slight 
disappointment when the narrative developed neither 
hidden treasure nor bleaching skeletons, but on the 
whole he was satisfactorily enthralled and enthusiastic. 
“And what are you going to do with it, Jerry?” he 
asked eagerly at the end. 

“ First thing I’m going to do,” answered Jerry, “ is 
give a party Saturday evening.” 

“ A party ? In the cabin ? Great ! Am I invited ? ” 
213 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Yes, you and Joke and — and another feller. 
Reckon there ought to be four of us.” 

“How would Tub do? He's pretty good fun.” 

“I — I ain’t — haven't decided yet,” replied Jerry 
evasively. “ I’ll find some one, though. We’ll go out 
about five o’clock, say, and that’ll give us an hour to 
cook supper.” 

“Who’s going to cook it?” inquired Tom doubt- 
fully. 

“ I am. I can cook right smart, Tom. Anyway, 
we wouldn’t have anything very fancy. Maybe just 
ham and eggs and coffee and the like. But it’ll taste 
mighty good after the walk, and eating it in the woods 
and all.” 

“ Sure ! But — but how far did you say this cabin 
is?” 

“ Just a little piece.” Jerry’s eyes twinkled. 
“ ’Bout two miles.” 

“ Gosh ! Don’t you know there’s a game Saturday, 
you long-legged, lopsided mountaineer? Think we’re 
going to feel like tramping two miles after beating St. 
John’s?” 

“ Maybe we won’t beat ’em,” replied Jerry calmly. 
“ Anyway, we can take it easy. You’ll like it after 
you get there, Tom.” 

“ Yes, I guess so. Well, I’ll drag myself out there 
214 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


somehow, Jerry. Joke’s coming up pretty soon 
land you can ask him. Maybe he can suggest a 
fourth.” 

“ We-ell, I sort of got a feller in mind, you see. 
Don’t know yet will he want to go. Reckon he will, 
though.” Jerry blinked innocently. “ There’s a feller 
here name of Pringle I got to know right well while 
you were gone. He’s sort of a kid, but he’s nice.” 

“ Archie Pringle ? I know him. Third class fel- 
low.” Tom looked a wee bit dubious. “ Sort of — 
sort of kiddy, isn’t he, Jerry?” 

“ Maybe so. I sort of like him, though.” 

“Well, it’s your party,” returned Tom cheerfully. 
“ You ask whom you like, Jerry boy. Here’s Joke, I 
guess.” 

It was, and Joe, after hearing the story, accepted 
the invitation with alacrity. “ Swell ! ” he said. 
“Gee, fellows, I’m crazy about outdoor eats! It’ll be 
more fun than a barrel of monkeys, won’t it? We’ll 
make a fire outdoors and sit around it and listen to the 
— the lapping of the waves ” 

“Whoa!” said Tom. “Where do you get that 
stuff? There aren’t any waves in the woods, you 
chump ! ” 

“That’s so!” But Joe was untroubled. “Well, 
then, we’ll sit and listen to the whippoorwills and feel 

215 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


sort of lonely and sad and everything. Fine, Jerry, 

finer 

“ Your idea of a perfect time is mighty peculiar, I’ll 
say,” commented Tom. “ Feeling sad isn’t among the 
things I dote on, son. That ham and eggs makes a 
bigger hit with me than listening to whippoorwills! 
Every one to his taste, though. You go the limit on 
loneliness and the rest of us will attend to the chow.” 

“ Oh, I’m never too lonely to eat,” said Joe cheer- 
fully. “ In fact, I’m always hungriest when I’m sad. 
Who else is going? ” 

“ Just us three,” replied Tom, “ and one other fellow. 
Jerry’s thinking of asking young Pringle.” 

“ Sure ! He’s a nice kid,” said Joe. “ We’ll let him 
wash the dishes. Good idea, that, Jerry! ” 

“ I didn’t say I was going to ask Pringle,” observed 
Jerry. “ Maybe it’ll be some one else. I ain’t decided 
yet.” 

“ Well, all I ask is, don’t get a fellow with a big 
appetite,” begged Joe. “ I never had a meal in the 
woods yet when there was enough to eat. Seems as 
if I just can’t get enough ! ” 

“ There’ll be a plenty this time,” Jerry assured him. 

The next day, which was Friday, Tom saw prac- 
tically nothing of his roommate until after supper. He 
caught glimpses of him during practice, but glimpses 
216 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


only, for Jerry worked with the scrubs that afternoon 
and there was no game. And afterwards he disap- 
peared most mysteriously. Jerry, in fact, spent a busy 
day. In the morning there was a providential interim 
of an hour and a half between two recitations, some- 
thing that occurred on no other morning of the week, 
and Jerry might have been seen footing it briskly out 
of the school grounds and down the road toward the 
station. Possibly he was seen, but certainly not by 
Tom. At the station, instead of raising the sema- 
phore to stop the next westbound train, Jerry de- 
bouched from road to track and set off at a swinging 
stride. A ten-minute walk brought him to his des- 
tination, a small village which boasted, besides a half 
dozen houses, a real, sure-enough store where you 
could buy almost anything from a paper of pins to a 
disk harrow or a cabinet talking machine. Jerry was 
extremely busy in that store for more than a half hour, 
and when he finally emerged he was weighed down 
by a gunnysack whose sides protruded most signifi- 
cantly. 

Jerry didn’t foot it back to North Bank, but caught 
the Annapolis train a minute or two later. On the 
way he looked thoughtfully into a leather bag-shaped 
purse, and what he saw appeared to bring him little 
pleasure. But when he had stowed the purse carefully 
2*7 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


away in his pocket again some thought brought a satis- 
fied, even happy look to his countenance. From the 
North Bank station he had to rely on his feet again 
and he slung the sack over his back and set out, look- 
ing not unlike a somewhat lanky and loose-jointed 
Santa Claus. Back at school, he went straight to the 
stable with his load. Cicero was there grooming 
Napoleon, the mule with the thickest tail — even Cicero 
could only tell them apart by their tails — and with him 
Jerry carried on a conversation of such length that he 
had just barely time to hurry up to Number 7 Baldwin 
House and retrieve his books for a half past eleven reci- 
tation. After dinner he again disappeared, though this 
time he went no further than the stable, and after base- 
ball practice he was missing once more. Search at the 
stable, or anywhere else about the school, would, how- 
ever, have failed to find him then, for he was seated on 
the front seat of the hack, beside Cicero, and the black 
carriage mules were stepping out smartly in the direc- 
tion of the blazed tree that stood a mile and a half along 
the river road. In the back of the hack were two 
boxes, each well-filled with miscellaneous articles, and 
these, while Cicero waited in the road, Jerry carried 
along the trail to the cabin. He was back at school 
in time for supper, and, afterwards, was annoyingly 
secretive and mysterious when questioned as to his 
218 


JERRY ISSUES INVITATIONS 


whereabouts and his doings by Tom. Perhaps Tom 
was a bit more annoyed than he would usually have 
been, for he had managed to catch a throw from second 
on the tip of his third finger that afternoon, which 
is both an unwise and a painful thing to do. 


CHAPTER XIX 
JERRY GIVES A PARTY 

I T would be pleasant to tell how, with Grinnel 
pitching and Tub Keller behind the bat, North 
Bank triumphed decisively over St. John’s Col- 
lege that Saturday afternoon. It would be pleasant 
but untruthful, for the Cadets licked North Bank un- 
mercifully, driving Jack Grinnel from the box in the 
third inning and causing the retirement of Hal Thacher 
in the eighth. The only thing that prevented the sub- 
sequent removal of Bud Train from the twirler’s mound 
was the conclusion of the game. If you don’t mind 
we won’t even set down the score. It wouldn’t do 
any good at this late day. Besides, North Bank sub- 
sequently found revenge. 

It wasn’t that the Light Blue played so badly. She 
didn’t. Nor were Grinnel and Thacher much, if any, 
below their top form. The plain truth is that St. 
John’s played really remarkable ball that day, couldn’t 
seem to miss anything that was put across the plate 
and, beyond a shadow of a doubt, had glue on their 
gloves! And, as so often happens, Luck favored the 


220 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 


deserving. That hit in the third that brought about 
Grinnel’s downfall might easily have been an out if 
the ball hadn’t found a loose pebble a yard in front 
of McGee and, instead of bounding into his ready 
hands, gone off at a tangent and brought up almost in 
midfield! That stroke of Fate let in two runs and 
placed the batsman on second base, and caused Coach 
Keegan to beckon sadly to Grinnel. Again, in the 
sixth, when North Bank had scored one lone tally and 
Beech and Keller were on third and second respec- 
tively; when, with but one out, a safe hit would have 
scored two more runs, and Thacher had the opposing 
pitcher in the hole with three balls and one strike, the 
Cadets’ third baseman had to go and perform the mi- 
raculous and, in the unlovely but expressive words of 
Captain Lord, “ spill the beans ” ! 

Hal Thacher waited out the second strike and then, 
with every one talking at once and North Bank’s rooters 
shouting their heads off, he landed on the next offerings 
It started away from his bat as pretty a hit into left as 
you’d want to see, and it went fast and about a scant 
yard inside the foul line. Also, it looked from the 
North Bank bench too high to reach, and too far away, 
anyhow, from the baseman, and Manager Birkenside 
had his pen poised over the correct square in the score 
book when Fate again mussed things up. That third 


221 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


baseman did a combined run and leap that ought never 
to be allowed outside a four-ring circus ! And when 
he landed he somehow successfully defied all laws of 
equipoise and gravitation and came down on his feet. 
Considering what a great variety of other places he 
might have landed on just as well — and far more 
probably — the feat gained new glory. Having 
landed, he threw to shortstop, stepped to third and 
received the return throw, which, had there been none 
out, would have completed a triple play. As it was, 
it went for a double, although Birkenside grumblingly 
declared that every score book ought to contain a col- 
umn headed “ M,” for miracles 1 
Perhaps that completes the list of the absolutely 
outrageous buffets of Fate, but there remains an in- 
cident in the ninth which, while it had no bearing on 
the outcome of the contest, long since won by St. 
John’s, and perhaps cannot rightly be classed with the 
flukes, yet stands as added evidence of the partiality 
displayed that afternoon by the fickle Goddess of For- 
tune. With the score — but we were not going to 
mention that, were we? Well, anyway, with the score 
what it was and all hope of winning long since gone, 
Coach Keegan used the last of the ninth to try out 
some of the substitutes, and among them was Jerry. 
Stevens, batting for Conway, after Lord had made 


222 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 

the first out, shortstop to first, beat out a bunt and went 
to second on as bare- faced a steal as had ever been 
witnessed on the diamond. Royce, following, tried 
hard to bring Stevens home, but the best he could do 
was to dribble one slowly to the pitcher’s box. The 
pitcher wasn’t a quick fielder, and, although Royce 
went out at first, Stevens, taking another long chance, 
slid into third just ahead of the ball. Coach Keegan, 
who had already decided to let Tom have his turn, sud- 
denly changed his mind and sent Jerry in. Jerry un- 
limbered and faced the foe and was at once put in a 
hole with two strikes and no balls, while Stevens danced 
about twenty feet off third and dared any one to put 
him out. Jerry was frankly puzzled by the Cadet 
pitcher’s offerings, but, after a third delivery had been 
declared a ball, he went for the fourth one. And he 
got it squarely and it traveled. It certainly looked 
safe enough, too; safe for three bases, anyway; pos- 
sibly four. And North Bank cheered hilariously and 
Stevens stood impatiently on third and waited for the 
ball to land. Well, just to make a long story short, 
that absurd ball got caught in a wind or developed a 
curve or something, with the result that it came down 
where right fielder, by merely stopping in his frantic 
chase and putting up his hands, could catch it. That 
spoiled a good three-base hit and ended North Bank’s 
223 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


rally and the game. Oh, I dare say it wasn’t a fluke, 
but you’ve got to acknowledge that there was some 
luck in it ! 

An hour afterward, four boys, walking along the 
westerly road, had a good deal to say about that game. 
No one, it seemed, was very well satisfied with it, al- 
though one, Joe Kirkham, the only one of the four 
who had not taken part in it, was able to discuss it 
with comparative cheerfulness. Oddly enough, how- 
ever, his contributions to the conversation were not wel- ! 
corned with much enthusiasm. “ The trouble with you 
fellows,” observed Joe blithely, “ is that you don’t 
wake up until about the ninth inning. Of course it’s 
a good thing to finish strong, but if you’d just cop 
a few runs now and then as you go along ” 

“ Joke,” said Tom severely, “ you may know some- ] 
thing about football and something about basketball *1 
— not much, maybe, but something — but when it 
comes to baseball, son, you’re not there at all! 
Consequently any further criticisms can be dispensed 
with.” 

“ I don’t know what you mean,” replied Joe in 
puzzled tones, “ unless you want me to shut up.” 

“ That’s near enough,” answered Tom dryly. 

“ You’re ‘ warm,’ Joke.” 

“You bet I am! Say, how much further is this 
224 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 


sylvan paradise of yours, Jerry?” 

“ Not more’n a mile, I reckon.” 

“ A mile ? Gee, let’s get a move on, fellows ! I’m 
starved ! ” 

“ I’d like to know what right you have to be hungry,” 
observed Wayne Sortwell. “ All you’ve done, Joke, 
is sit in the stand and watch the rest of us.” 

“ Sure ! ” Joe grinned. “ And maybe you think that 
isn’t hard work! Why, I can get tireder seeing you 
fellows try to play baseball than doing anything else 
I know of ! I suppose it’s sort of — of sympathetic, 
Wayne. My arms get to aching terribly when I see 
you swinging at the ball and not hitting it ! ” 

“ Is that so? ” asked Wayne, encircling Joe with an 
arm and getting a grip on him that made him yelp and 
squirm. “ Just let me tell you that I hit that beggar 
twice to-day, Joke.” 

“ Then he — w-w-wasn’t — 1-1-looking ! ” gurgled 
Joe, breaking loose and taking refuge at the other side 
of the road. “ The only fellow that really hit him 
was Jerry, and if the wind hadn’t blown the ball over 
to the left he’d have had three bases.” 

“ Yes, that was a piece of silly luck for those fel- 
lows,” agreed Tom. “ Ever notice, by the way, that 
old Jerry always hits about the same length? Jerry’s 
motto is : ‘ Three bags or none ’ ! ” 

225 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ And usually it’s none/’ commented Jerry. “ Some 
feller always manages to catch the ball.” 

“ 4 Three-Base Benson ’ is his name,” said Joe. 
“ ‘ Three-Base Benson, the Demon Slugger of North 
Bank School ! ’ ” 

“ You surely hit them an awful wallop when you do 
hit,” said Wayne, admiringly. “ How do you man- 
age it, Jerry? ” 

“I — I just sort of push them away,” answered 
Jerry vaguely, and the others laughed loudly and long. 

“ I’d love to see you really hit one then ! ” gasped 
Wayne. “ I’ll say you're some pusher! ” 

Wayne’s inclusion in the party had been a good deal 
of a surprise to Tom. He had not thought to ask 
Jerry who the fourth member was to be since yester- 
day, and when Wayne had joined them on the gym- 
nasium steps after the game Tom had been a trifle 
embarrassed and had supposed that his erstwhile enemy 
had merely stopped to talk. Instead, however, Wayne 
had fallen into step with them, and here he was, and 
Tom as yet had had no chance to ask Jerry why. Not, 
though, that he minded having Wayne. The latter 
was quite all right, now that he knew him better, and 
so far the expedition had been as jolly as you pleased. 

Baseball as a subject of conversation languished and 
Joe began to demand assurances from the host that 
226 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 

there was really food awaiting them at the cabin. 
“ If,” he declared solemnly, “ you get me away off 
there, Jerry, and don’t feed me, I — I’ll come back and 
haunt you. Because, boy, another hour without sus- 
tenance will do for me l ” 

“ I ain’t saying you’ll have a regular dinner, with 
oysters and soup and trimmings,” said Jerry, “ but I’m 
aiming to get you filled, Joke.” 

“ That’s all I ask, Jerry,” answered Joe gravely. 
“ Fill me and I’ll ask no more.” 

“If he fills you there won’t be any more,” said 
Tom. “I vote that the rest of us eat first, fellows, 
just so as to be certain of getting a taste anyway.” 

It was nearly six when they left the road and, follow- 
ing Jerry, went in single file through the woods. Dark- 
ness, however, would not come for an hour yet, and 
by that time Jerry proposed to have the banquet spread. 
Perhaps his companions were a trifle disappointed when 
the cabin came in sight. It looked rather forlorn, 
rather melancholy in the gathering shadows. The 
whippoorwills were busy, too; at least three of the 
“pesky things,” as Tom observed; and their plaintive 
songs didn’t add any to the cheerfulness of the scene. 
Tom, though, exclaimed enthusiastically over the cabin, 
and if his enthusiasm had a slightly hollow sound Jerry 
didn’t notice it. In five minutes their first impression 
227 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


had vanished, for the outdoor fireplace and the indoo* 
stove had been laid ready for the match, and with th^ 
fires going^he scene took on quite another appearance. 
Besides, there was much within the cabin to elicit sur- 
prise and praise. There was a real homelike look to 
the place. A long table, fully six feet by three had 
taken the place of Jerry’s first effort, and there was a 
box for every one to sit on. That table explained 
Jerry’s absence from the vicinity of school most of the 
morning and its top represented parts of three packing 
boxes. The small table stood under the wall cupboard 
and held Jerry’s cooking utensils, or many of them. 
Others hung ornamentally above it. The cupboard, 
reenforced with a middle shelf, held tin dishes and 
cups, knives, spoons and forks. Around the interior 
where walls and roof met Jerry had tacked evergreen 
boughs, and two lanterns stood ready for lighting. 

“Gee, it’s simply great!” exclaimed Joke. “And 
— and, for the love of faculty, fellows, look at the 
bed!” 

“ Yes, and look at that ham! ” said Wayne. “ Say, 
what do you want me to do, Jerry? ” 

“ Take this bucket and fill it with water at the brook,” 
responded Jerry promptly. “ And you dig eight po- 
tatoes out of that bag down there, Tom, and wash ’em 
228 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 


and cut rings around 'em. And, Joke, you — 
| Where’d he get to ? ’’ 

“ Here I am,” answered Joe, contentedly from the 
bed. “ Don’t bother about me, Jerry, I’m all right." 

“ You pile out of there," laughed Jerry, “ and set 
the table while I get the ham cut. How many slices 
will we need, Tom? " 

“ Let’s see it. Three’ll be plenty. One for you 
and one for me and one for Wayne. Yes, three’s 
enough.’’ 

“ Well, look," said Joe earnestly, “ how you going 
to cook the rest of it for me, Jerry? Won’t it be too 
thick?" 

Wayne came back with the water bucket filled and 
preparations began in earnest. Jerry had agreed to do 
the cooking, and, although he found himself sur- 
rounded by three eager volunteers, he stuck to his agree- 
ment. “ Yon fellers sit down and get hungry," he or- 
dered. “ That’s all you need to do. ’Cepting some 
one might keep a look on that fire out there and see 
it don’t go out. I thought maybe after supper we’d 
like to sit around it a spell." 

Twenty minutes later the banquet was ready. Four 
slices of ham sizzled on four tin plates, two fried eggs 
reposed on each slice and two boiled potatoes, their 
jackets all ready to come off, flanked them. Coffee 
229 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


steamed from tin cups and a huge pile of bread adorned 
the middle of the table. It was almost dark inside 
the cabin now and so Tom lighted the two lanterns 
and placed one at each end of the board, the odor of 
kerosene mingling perceptibly with the aroma of ham 
and coffee. Only one thing had Jerry forgotten, and 
that was butter, but with plenty of ham-fat no one 
missed it. Condensed milk did for the coffee, and 
Wayne swore by the graves of his ancestors that finer 
coffee had never been made. 

For that matter, every item of the menu came in 
for exalted praise, and, I think, every item deserved it. 
Surely there never was a sweeter, tenderer, more juicy 
ham, surely eggs never tasted better than those and 
certainly no potatoes were ever taken from the pot at 
a more opportune instant ! “ Hungry ? ” responded 

Joe in response to an inquiry from Tom. “ Hungry ! 
Boy, I could eat a railroad spike ! Toss me a piece of 
bread, Jerry, if you don’t want it all ! ” Tin cups were 
replenished and more bread was cut, and the last drop 
of fat was poured from the frying pans; for there were 
two now, since one would never have met the culinary 
requirements. And finally, sighing with repletion, the 
quartet leaned perilously back on their boxes and 
triumphantly surveyed a devastated scene. Wayne 
spoke the sentiments of all the guests when, after an 
230 


JERRY GIVES A PARTY 


eloquent silence, he murmured fervently : “ Some 

feed, Jerry, some feed! I’ll say it was! ” 

“ I’m powerful glad you liked it,” answered Jerry. 
“Liked it!” said Joe. “Honest, Jerry, that’s the 
best dinner I’ve ever eaten! ” 

“ Same here,” said Tom dreamily, surreptitiously 
letting out his belt another hole. 

“ Well, now,” Jerry went on, “ I’d like you to tell 
me something. Do you reckon there’s other fellers 
at school that would like such a feed ? ” 

“Other fellows! Like it! Course they’d like it! 
Why not? But you can’t afford to give parties to all 
of them,” expostulated Tom. 

“ Could if they’d pay something,” said Jerry quietly. 
“Pay? How much?” demanded Wayne. 

" Maybe seventy-five cents apiece.” Jerry leaned 
forward, elbows on the table, and faced the others with 
twinkling eyes. “ Reckon for seventy-five cents I 
could give ’em pie, too ! ” 


CHAPTER XX 
THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 

4 4 LAD you didn’t give us pie, too ! ” said Joe 

■ fervently* “ But what’s the big idea, 

^^-41 Jerry? Going into the restaurant busi- 
ness ? ” 

“ Sort of,” answered the host. “ Way I figured it’s 
this. The fellers don’t have much chance to spend 
their money around school. Of course they can go to 
Annapolis, and now and then they can get up to Balti- 
more, but there ain’t — isn’t any place around school 
where they can buy cake or pie or candy and — and 
blow their money. Well, if they could make up a party 
of half a dozen, maybe, and come out here on a Satur- 
day night and have a good feed and sit around by the 
fire, why, seems to me a lot of them would like to do 
it.” 

“You bet they would!” asserted Wayne. “And 
I’ll guarantee to make up the first crowd, Jerry! ” 

“ Ham and eggs and sweet potatoes and coffee, and 
maybe a wedge of pie, would be about all they’d get, 
232 


THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 


but they'd be hungry when they got here, I reckon, 
same as you fellers were. I figure I can feed six fel- 
lers for seventy-five cents apiece and make a little 
money doing it. And Fd like it, too. I like being out 
here and I like to cook things. That’s one reason I 
asked you fellers.” Jerry grinned. “ I wanted tes- 
timonials from you-all.” 

“ Well, you can sure have one from me,” said Joe. 
“ I think it’s a corking scheme, boy, and if Wayne 
doesn’t let me come with his bunch I’ll get up a crowd 
of my own ! ” 

“ Just Saturday nights, Jerry? ” asked Tom. 

“ Yes. I couldn’t do it more’n once a week, Tom. 
Wouldn’t have time. And Saturday looks like the 
best day, don’t it? ” 

“ There’s just one trouble with the scheme,” said 
Wayne sadly. “ Faculty will get onto it and put its 
foot down. Faculty loves putting its foot down on 
our innocent amusements, Jerry.” 

“ ’Tain’t going to put no foot down on this,” replied 
Jerry, substituting earnestness for grammar. “ First 
thing I done — did was see Doctor Heidler, and he said 
I could do it. Said he thought ’twas a fine idea. 
Only — er — only restriction he made was that the 
fellers would have to be back by nine o’clock. He was 
mighty nice about it.” 


233 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ You win ! ” said Wayne. “ Book me and five 
others for next Saturday night, Jerry.” 

“ Am I in? ” asked Joe anxiously. “ ’Cause if I’m 
not ” 

“ Sure! And you, too, Tom, if you’ll come.” 

“ Glad to, thanks,” replied Tom. “ But what are 
you going to do with all the money you make, 
Jerry?” 

“ I ain’t aiming to make such a heap,” said Jerry 
soberly. “ You see, things are pretty high ” 

“ That’s the way they all talk,” sighed Tom, “ from 
Broadway to — to North Bank, Maryland!” 

“ I’m figuring I can clear about two dollars and a 


half off a party of six fellers. What I make I 
good use for, Tom.” 



“ Bet you’re going to buy an automobile,” laughed 
Joe. 

But Jerry shook his head gravely. “ I — I’ve got 
a use for it,” he said. 

“ Hope you make a pile,” said Wayne heartily. 
“ And I’ll advertise the scheme all I know how.” 

“ Me, too,” said Joe. “ How would it do if I stuffed 
a pillow under my sweater to-morrow, and then, when 
fellows asked me how I got so fat, tell them I’d eaten 
supper out here? By the way, what are you calling 
the place, Jerry?” 


THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 


“Just "The Cabin/ I reckon. Sounds all right, 
don’t it ? ” 

“ I’ll say so. Of course you might pick on some- 
thing more fancy, like — like ‘ Forest Inn ’ or ‘ Ben- 

sonhurst-in-the- Woods ’ or ” 

“ ‘ The Ham-and-Eggery,’ ” finished Tom. “ Shut 
up, Joke, ‘ The Cabin ’ is the best. If I were you, 
Jerry, I’d put up a notice in the Hall.” 

“ That’s the idea ! ” agreed Wayne. “ ‘ Eat at The 
Cabin! Ham and Eggs a la Jerry! * Say, let’s work 
up a poster, fellows! Got a piece of paper, Joe? ” 

Joe hadn’t, but Jerry found a paper bag and 
smoothed it out, and Wayne pushed the empty dishes 
from a corner of the table and moistened the tip of a 
pencil. Then he looked around inquiringly. “ What’s 
the catch line ? ” he demanded. 

“ ‘ Dine in the Woods,’ ” offered Tom. 

“ ’Tain’t dinner,” objected Jerry. “ It’s supper.” 

“ That’s so,” Wayne agreed. “ How would this 
do ? ‘The Cabin Calls You ! ’ ” 

“ Not bad,” said Tom. “ Seems to me, though, 
there ought to be something about eats in the top line. 
You know how fellows are, Wayne.” 

“Reckon that’s so. ‘Sup at The Cabin?’ That 
doesn’t quite get it, does it? Sup is a punk word. 
Wait a second!” Wayne frowned intently and then 
235 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


began to write. Joe, looking over his shoulder, nodded 
applaudingly. Finally, Wayne read the result: 

HAVE YOU HAD SUPPER AT THE CABIN? 

If you Haven’t you’ve Missed a Treat! Ham-and- 
Eggs and Sweet Potatoes, Coffee and Pie, Cooked 
on a Camp Stove and Eaten Camp Fashion 
Right in the Woods! Parties of Six 
Accommodated on Saturday Nights. 

ALL YOU CAN EAT FOR SEVENTY-FIVE 
CENTS. GET IN LINE, FELLOWS! 

Make your Reservations Now with Benson, 

7 Baldwin House 

“ Swell !” declared Joe. “That’ll make their 
mouths water, I’ll bet! What do you say, Jerry? ” 

“ Reckon it couldn’t be any better,” said Jerry grate- 
fully. “ I’m powerful much obliged, Wayne.” 

“ There’s just one objection that I can see,” said 
Tom. 

“ Oh, of course you’d find something wrong,” 
scoffed Joe. “What is it?” 

“ Well, I think it would be a good idea, in view of 
the fact that Joke will be here next Saturday, to scratch' 
out that about ‘ All you can eat for seventy-five cents.’ 
Anybody knows that you can’t give Joke all he can eat 
for any such price ! ” 


236 


THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 

“ You dry up and blow away,” grumbled Joe, 
amidst laughter. 

“ Aside from that, though, you think it’s all right, 
Tom? ” asked Wayne. 

“ Corking! Joe’s rather a dabster with a pen. Let 
him make a real poster.” 

“All right! And I say!” Joe snapped his fingers 
excitedly. “ We ought to have a picture of the cabin 
on it! Who’s got a camera?” 

“ I have,” said Wayne, " and that’s a peachy idea ! 
Tell you what, Jerry, you and I’ll come out to-morrow 
and get two or three shots at it. Then well take the 
film over to Annapolis Monday and have the fellow 
over there make some prints. He ought to do it in a 
day or so if we tell him we’re in a hurry.” 

“ Well all come out to-morrow,” said Tom. “ I’ve 
got a camera myself somewhere. I haven’t used it 
for an age, and I’ll shoot a couple, too, and we can use 
the best of the lot. I’ll just bet you, Jerry, that this 
thing goes great! It’s a shame you didn’t find the 
place sooner, though, for there aren’t many Saturdays 
left.” 

“ Eight more after to-day,” said Jerry. “ Maybe 
if fellers like it I can go on with it next fall.” 

“ Sure,” said Joe. “ By the way, though, it would 
237 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


be a beastly sell if the fellow who owns it came back 
and put you out ! ” 

“ Well, I asked Doctor Heidler about that. He 
didn't know who built it, but he said the land belongs 
to some real estate company over to Washington and 
that they ain’t likely to care if I use the Cabin. Reckon 
whoever built it is moved away from here and ain’t 
likely to come back. Hope he don’t, neither, because 
I feel like it was my own now.” And Jerry’s gaze 
wandered almost affectionately about the little lantern- 
lighted room. 

“ Oh, you’re safe enough, I guess,” said Tom. 
“Say, what about that fire out there?” 

Joe leaned back and looked through the open door. 
“ It’s out,” he reported. “ Anyway, we wouldn’t have 
time for it to-night, I guess.” He glanced at his 
watch and whistled. “ For the love of faculty, fel- 
lows! It’s twenty-two minutes past eight! Here, 
let’s get at the dishes and beat it for school ! ” 

“ You don’t need to bother about the dishes,” said 
Jerry. “ I’m aiming to come out some day and tidy 
up.” 

“ Nonsense,” declared Wayne. “ We aren’t going 
to leave you with this mess. Shove me a lantern, Tom, 
and I’ll fetch some water. I know the way. You 
fellows get the table cleared.” 

238 


THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 


Twenty minutes later they passed out and Jerry 
turned the key in a new padlock. Then, with the 
aid of one of the lanterns, which Jerry cached at the 
end of the trail, they made their way out of the woods 
and soon were swinging along at a lively pace toward 
the school, Joe and Tom volunteering as an impromptu 
glee club and Jerry and Wayne walking together be- 
hind rather silently. They were silent partly because 
conversation would have been difficult with Tom de- 
claring in bass and Joe in tenor that 

“ ’Twas a fine day in the early spring, 

The trees were green and ev’rything, 

The birds were singing here and there 
And the atmosphere was full of air 1 ” 

And partly they were silent because Wayne had 
eaten heartily and was filled with contentment and Jerry 
was too busy laying plans to insure the success of his 
enterprise to do much talking. 

The next afternoon, armed with three cameras, for 
Joe, not to be outdone, had borrowed one for the occa- 
sion, the four returned to The Cabin. (We might as 
well follow Jerry’s lead and capitalize it, too!) Much 
good film was wasted, as was afterward proved, espe- 
cially as Joe was not acquainted with the instrument 
he brought and consequently didn’t discover until too 
late that the lens was blinded by a cute little round 
239 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


stopper. Joe, having caught the picture in the finder, 
was quite satisfied and took six perfectly wonderful 
views of The Cabin. At least, we will presume that 
they were wonderful. There was nothing to prove 
otherwise when a perfectly empty strip of film was 
developed ! Tom and Wayne, however, had better suc- 
cess, and the print that adorned the top of Joe’s poster 
two days later, one of Wayne’s, by the way, showed 
a most attractive and picturesque old hut steeped in 
sunshine and laced with the shadow-tracery of the over- 
hanging trees. In front, by the open door, stood three 
boys. One held a frying pan, one a coffeepot and the 
other the major portion of a large ham, and each had 
tried his best to look as if he had recently supped to 
repletion. Unfortunately, since the picture was small, 
such detail as the latter was missing. For that matter, 
no one could have identified any of the three in the 
photograph. One, the figure at the extreme left, was 
slightly blurred owing to the fact that Joe had at- 
tempted to caress Tom with the frying pan at the 
instant that Wayne’s fingers pressed the bulb. 

But the photograph was a success, and so, most 
assuredly, was the poster, and its appearance on the 
notice board in Founders’ Hall Tuesday evening created 
quite a sensation. In something under an hour it was 
known throughout school that the poster wasn’t a hoax ; 

240 


THE SCHOOL GIVES SUPPORT 


that Jerry Benson, for the trifling sum of seventy-five 
cents — trifling, at least, if you had it or could borrow 
it — guaranteed to fill you quite full of ham and eggs 
and other perfectly delectable viands; and that if you 
wanted to get in on the fun you had to speak quick 
since the next two Saturday nights were already en- 
gaged ! 

The latter statement was no more than the truth, 
for in less than half an hour after the poster appeared 
Lory Browne, having listened to a glowing account 
of The Cabin and the brand of entertainment to be 
had there from Joe, had sought Jerry and secured the 
Saturday after next. To anticipate, since other things 
than Jerry's catering enterprise must claim attention, 
the first few days saw the success of The Cabin assured. 
Every Saturday night was bespoken. And the pro- 
prietor’s reckoning proved very nearly correct, what 
error there was being on the right side. By purchas- 
ing potatoes by the bushel and eggs from a farm in- 
stead of at the store Jerry increased his profits so that 
after every entertainment he put away two dollars and 
fifty-eight cents. And no one who took supper at 
The Cabin was ever heard to say that he came away 
with any unoccupied space ! The only thing that kept 
Jerry Benson from becoming, according to his idea, 
fabulously wealthy in a short time was the fact that 
241 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


a week contained but one Saturday, for he had to 
refuse many parties. By the middle of May, not to 
have taken supper at The Cabin was almost an indica- 
tion of social inferiority l 


CHAPTER XXI 
" THREE-BASE BENSON ” 

I T was on the Wednesday following Jerry’s party 
to Tom and Joe and Wayne at The Cabin that 
he became a full-fledged member of the school 
nine. The ceremony was as simple as it was unex- 
pected. Practice had begun, as usual, with work at 
the batting net, and Coach Keegan had paused and 
looked on for a longer period than usual. Five min- 
utes after he had gone back to the plate the batting 
squad was dismissed and Jerry had sought the bench 
with other members of the scrub team to await orders. 
Mr. Keegan, observing Partridge and Leroy batting 
fungoes, called him as he passed. 

“ O Benson ! Just a minute ! ” 

Jerry had stepped aside from the squad and joined 
the coach. 

“ Benson, you go out there in center field and catch 
some flies. Show me what you can do. I’ll be watch- 
ing you. And let me see how you throw in. Try 
one to the plate now and then.” 

“ Yes, sir.” Jerry unhitched a fielder’s glove from 
243 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


his belt and trotted out to where Ted Beech held forth. 
Beech viewed Jerry’s advent dubiously, for he was 
none too certain of his position. But he managed a 
grin and moved across the field to share the territory. 
For ten minutes Jerry alternated with Beech in catch- 
ing. He had learned by now to judge flies pretty ac- 
curately, and to-day, with not a breath of wind to de- 
flect the ball, he had no difficulties. Throwing all the 
way to the plate, however, was another matter. He 
could get the distance, but when it came to putting the 
ball to the right of the catcher and so that it reached 
the latter at the first long bound Jerry experienced 
trouble. Yet he did rather well a couple of times, 
and perhaps he would have done better yet had he not 
felt that Coach Keegan was watching him every in- 
stant. It is probable that the coach wasn’t doing any 
such thing, but Jerry thought that he was, and think- 
ing so made him self-conscious. 

When the fielders were called in the coach met Jerry, 
and there was approval in his countenance. “ Good 
work, Benson,” he said heartily. “ Better have your 
arm rubbed well after practice. Look here, when you 
plug ’em at the plate, boy, start ’em off higher. Don’t 
try to get too much speed in them until you’ve been at 
it a while. It’s better to have the ball come in the 
right place, where the catcher can get it without moving 
244 


“ THREE-BASE BENSON ” 


far from base, even if it takes an instant longer, than 
t p have it come wild. A slow ball well placed is bet- 
ter than a fast one that takes the catcher out of posi- 
tion. All right. Oh, by the way, Benson, you’re on 
the first team after this.” 

Coach Keegan nodded, and Jerry, not finding any- 
thing to say, nodded, too, and went over to the bench 
and sat down between Royce and Train and wondered 
if he understood Mr. Keegan correctly. Evidently, 
though, he had, for a minute later Birkenside, his red- 
covered memorandum book in hand, paused in front 
of him. 

“ Say, Benson, what are you playing?” he asked. 

“ I been fielding,’* answered Jerry. “Most any- 
where.” 

“Well, thunderation, you must have a position! 
Coach says you’re taken to the first, but he didn’t say 
where you were to play.” 

“ Go and ask him, then,” advised Bud Train, be- 
tween whom and the manager there was always fric- 
tion. “Why trouble Benson? Don’t be so blamed 
important.” 

Birkenside frowned and shrugged. “All right, 
I’ll put you down as a fielder, Benson. You’d better 
find out, though, where you’re playing.” 

“ That guy’s too blamed full of himself,” growled 
245 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Train, looking after the manager. “ Weren’t you in 
center field awhile ago, Jerry?” 

ft Yes, he sent me out there.” 

" Well, that’s where you’ll play, I reckon. Ted’s 
been hitting pretty punk this spring. Reckon, though, 
Coach’ll use the two of you. It’s your batting that’ll 
get you in, Jerry. You sure can hit ’em, boy!” 

That Jerry could hit them was proved again that 
afternoon, for when the two nines took their places 
for the five-inning practice game Jerry was in center in 
place of Ted Beech. However, as Grinnel opposed 
the scrubs to-day there weren’t many chances for him. 
One long fly that he caught almost without taking a 
step and a long roller constituted his work. But when 
the second inning came around he managed to make 
himself very useful. Mr. Keegan had changed the 
batting order and Jerry found himself sandwiched in 
between McGee and Tom Hartley, fifth man on the 
list. The first had failed to score in the first inning, 
Jackson, Lord and Conway going out in order, and in 
the second McGee, first up, hit safely for a base. 
Sears, the scrub pitcher, apparently wanted to pass 
Jerry, but his catcher decided to give him a chance to 
fly out, and so Sears, following signals, offered two 
low ones that looked very doubtful to the batter but 
were called balls by Manager Birkenside, officiating 
246 


“ THREE-BASE BENSON” 


behind the mound. After that Sears wasted two antr 
then tried to sneak one over. The offering was a bit 
lower than Jerry approved of, but it was certain to be 
a strike and so he let go at it and got it very nicely. 
Instead of proving a high fly, though, it just skimmed 
the second baseman’s head and went well into deep 
center and landed in a perfectly safe place, so that 
McGee scored unhurriedly and Jerry legged it around 
to third. 

Again in the last of the fifth, by which time the first 
had the game on ice, with the score 7 to 2, Jerry found 
a second opportunity to distinguish himself with his 
bat. There was one down then and Conway and 
Lord were on first and second. This time both pitcher 
and catcher were agreed on the advisability of walk- 
ing Mr. Benson, and Sears began to shoot them wide 
of the plate, while the first team laughed. But while 
the opposing battery were in agreement on the plan, 
Jerry wasn’t. Jerry had a queer notion that to be pre- 
sented with a base smacked of ignominy, and when 
two balls had sped past him, wide of the plate, a hurt 
expression came into his countenance. He watched 
the third hopefully, though, thinking that perhaps Sears 
hadn’t intended to do him the injustice indicated. But 
the third ball, too, went wide, and Jerry, shifting un- 
happily on his wide-spread feet, looked reproachfully 
247 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Tr-' 

iown the path. Sears was trying to humiliate him, 
thought Jerry, trying to give him something he hadn’t 
earned! Well, he’d show him, by golly! And show 
him he did! Somehow, without stepping from the 
box, Jerry reached out for that fourth ball and got it. 
Perhaps Sears, being certain that the batsman had ac- 
cepted the inevitable, was a trifle careless and put the 
fourth offering a bit nearer the edge of the plate. In 
any case, he lived to regret it, for Jerry found the ball 
near the end of his long bat and off it sped! 

There were whoops of sheer delirious delight from 
the bench as the ball traveled into right field and Pop 
Lord and Dud Conway footed it for home. Right 
fielder never had a chance to make the catch, for the 
hit was hard, fast and low and only a few feet inside 
the white line, and sprint as he might, and did, the ball 
came to earth well away from him and then went bound- 
ing and rolling back. And while he gave chase Lord 
and Conway tallied and Jerry’s legs twinkled past sec- 
ond and on to third. It was a clean three-bagger that 
might, had the circumstances warranted it, been 
stretched into a home run, for the ball didn’t get to the 
plate until Jerry had spent a long moment on third. 
But, with only one man gone, the coacher held him 
there, and presently he trotted on to the plate when 
Tom smashed a single past his nose. 

248 


“ THREE-BASE BENSON” 


I think it was that afternoon that the title of Three- 
Base Benson, which had originated with Joe Kirkham, 
attached itself firmly to Jerry. At any rate, a day 
later it was in common use throughout the school, and 
Thursday’s practice was more largely attended than 
usual, the students having developed a desire to see the 
tow-headed North Carolinian perform. They were 
doomed to disappointment, though, for Jerry dis- 
covered that day that being a member of the first didn’t 
necessarily imply that he was to take part in the game. 
Beech played center field and Jerry adorned the bench 
all through the five innings. But Friday told a differ- 
ent tale and those who watched the contest saw Jerry 
bat true to form when, after striking out in the first 
inning, he came to bat in the fourth and arched a long 
i fly into deep left. This time the scrubs’ outfielders 
were prepared, however, and the left fielder spoiled a 
nice hit by a running catch. Still, Jerry’s effort 
brought in two runs and went to his credit as a sacri- 
fice, and every one agreed that had the fielder failed to 
get it it would have landed Jerry just about on third! 

It became a firm belief amongst his team mates that 
he could only hit three-baggers. Just now and then 
during the balance of the season Jerry lined out a single 
or a double, and such performances were held as the 
exceptions proving the rule. And, of course, there 
249 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


were a good many occasions when his appearance at 
the plate netted nothing, occasions when he either 
failed to connect with the ball at all or when some 
hard-hearted fielder spoiled his effort. But on the 
whole by the end of that merry month of May Jerry 
had proved himself a very dependable hitter, and, al- 
though he played in center less frequently than did Ted 
Beech, few contests with outside teams took place in 
which he was not introduced at some time in the role 
of pinch hitter. Coach Keegan’s specialty appeared to 
be sending Jerry in to bat when there were men on 
bases with one gone and runs sadly needed. On such 
occasions Jerry seldom failed to deliver a fly, either 
safe or sacrifice, long enough to bring in the tallies. 
What he seemed incapable of doing consistently was 
hitting liners. Jerry’s efforts were, nine times in ten, 
long, arching flies to the outfield that, caught or not 
caught, were the admiration of his mates and the talk 
of the school. And his fame as a “ slugger ” spread 
beyond North Bank, so that opposing teams played a 
deeper outfield when he came to the plate and opposing 
batteries showed a disposition to issue passes to him. 

North Bank had a twenty-one game schedule that 
spring and by the last week in May was playing a very 
good article of ball. Until then she had lost and won 
about evenly; five victories, six defeats and two ties 
250 


“ THREE-BASE BENSON ” 


was the record. But on the Saturday that she met St 
John’s in Annapolis for a return contest she had hit 
her stride and the Cadets, still playing the sort of base- 
ball that left her close to the top of the list that spring, 
went down in defeat, the score being n to 8, \vith 
North Bank on the long end of it. As in the first 
game between the two teams, Fortune’s favors were 
not scattered impartially. Perhaps they never are in 
a baseball game. To-day, certainly, North Bank got 
what breaks there were. There was a corking sixth 
inning when, with the score tied at four each, Pop 
Lord led with a two-bagger and Conway followed with 
another and McGee sacrificed him to third. Tom 
Hartley brought in the second run with a hit over third 
base and Wayne Sortwell waited for his base and got 
it. Beech dumped a pretty bunt in front of the plate 
and filled the bases. Tub’s best effort was a liner 
straight into first baseman’s hands. Then Thacher, 
who had pitched a fine game so far, was motioned aside 
by Mr. Keegan and a loose-jointed, tow-haired youth 
picked out the longest bat in the bunch and ambled to 
the rubber. But St. John’s had heard of Three-Base 
Benson and her outfielders spread and retreated. 

There was no chance now for a sacrifice, and Jerry 
knew it. It had to be a real hit to do any good, and 
he wanted mightily to deliver it, for he realized that in 

251 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


replacing Thacher with him Coach Keegan had taken 
a good deal of a chance. Grinnel was not available 
to-day arid it might prove that Bud Train, already 
warming up back of the crowd, would not prove good 
enough. So Jerry wanted that hit and wanted it badly, 
and prayed fervently that the St. John’s t wirier 
wouldn’t throw out and pass him. If he did, though, 
he would force in one run, and even that would be bet- 
ter than a strike-out for the visitors. But Jerry fixed 
his eyes on the opposing pitcher and mentally begged 
him to send them within reach. Perhaps the St. 
John’s t wirier thought he could master the batter, or 
perhaps he hated to force another run across and pre- 
ferred to take his chance. In any case he went to work 
very carefully, very skillfully, mingling low ones with 
high ones, close ones with wide hooks and changing 
his pace often. 

Jerry let two go past and the umpire called the second 
against him. A third was too low. The fourth 
Jerry struck at and missed badly. It was two-and-two 
then. The next offer broke badly for the pitcher and 
made the third ball. Then, in a hole, the latter tried 
to outwit Jerry with speed. Jerry struck and the ball 
went foul into the crowd back of third base. Another 
ball followed it to the same place. Another tipped off 
his bat and banged against the backstop. The follow- 
252 


“THREE-BASE BENSON” 


ing delivery was palpably a ball had Jerry let it pass, 
but he didn’t. He took it well above his shoulders and 
drove it straight into left center and the bases emptied 
as though by magic and Jerry raced like a tow-headed 
streak to third and plumped himself down on the bag 
without a questioning look at the coacher there. And 
St. John’s, missing the unconscious humor of it, won- 
dered why North Bank howled with laughter! 

Jerry died on third when Jackson was an easy out at 
first. In the eighth inning North Bank put two more 
runs over. In the ninth St. John’s, seven runs behind, 
started a rally that looked dangerous. Train, who had 
so far got by without punishment, began to slip and 
the tallies began to trickle across the plate. Jerry, in 
center field in place of Beech, had one chance to lose 
the game when, with four runs across two men out and 
the bases full, the St. John’s shortstop whanged out a 
fly that looked as if it never meant to land. Jerry had 
to go back for it, go back far and hard, and twice on 
the way he was forced to alter his direction since the 
ball for some unknown reason took new slants as its 
momentum lessened. But in the end he got it fairly 
in both hands and held it tightly, and, for fear that the 
umpire might construe a throw into a fumble, still held 
it when he reached the bench. 

However, it was not St. John’s that North Bank was 
253 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


chiefly interested in, and the decisive victory over the 
collegians, welcome as it was, was prized princi- 
pally because of the promise it held forth of success 
in the Cumbridge Hall series. For Cumbridge was 
and always had been the Light Blue’s dearest and dead- 
liest foe, and, no matter how many early defeats fell 
to North Bank’s share, a final triumph over the Dark 
Blue crowned the season with success. This year the 
first contest was to be played at Holly, the little town 
twelve miles south, the second Saturday in June, and 
the next contest was to be held at North Bank on the 
second Wednesday thereafter, the day before Class 
Day. Should a third game be necessary to establish 
supremacy it would be played the day following Class 
Day, in Annapolis. But this year North Bank firmly 
believed that no third contest would be required, for 
she had firm faith in her nine and a great thirst for 
vengeance over the enemy that, last year, had nosed her 
way to victory in the deciding game. And so, the 
second St. John’s game out of the way, North Bank 
set her gaze on the following Saturday. 


CHAPTER XXII 
A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 

W HEREAS Jerry's close friends had been 
Tom and Joe alone up to the evening of 
his party at The Cabin, now a fourth was 
added in the person of Wayne Sortwell. The intimacy 
.grew gradually. A few evenings after the party Wayne 
appeared in Number 7 Baldwin with Joe and two even- 
ings later the quartet met again in Wayne’s room in 
McCrea at the latter’s invitation. I think Wayne at 
first really liked Jerry better than Tom, for the mem- 
ory of the former antagonism remained and for awhile 
the two recent enemies met, in a manner of speak- 
ing, with hands on sword hilts. But distrust soon 
passed and it wasn’t long before Tom remarked re- 
gretfully one day to Jerry: “ Too bad Wayne won’t 
be here next year, isn’t it? ” 

It was about that time that Tom had to pay a visit 
to the school office on a matter of no great importance, 
and, Mr. Ledyard happening through from the inner 
room, was invited into the secretary’s sanctum. “ I 
255 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

wanted to say a few words, Hartley, about your room-' 
mate,” Mr. Ledyard announced when Tom was seated. 
“ I reckon you recall the conversation we had about- 
him in the yard one day some time back.” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Remember that I made the prediction that we’d 
be proud of Benson some day? Well, Hartley, the 
faculty is proud of him now. I don't believe even 
you, who are thrown with him so much, realize what 
a hard row Benson has had to hoe or how pluckily he 
has gone at it. I’m thinking of his studies, Hartley, al- 
though he was faced by other difficulties, too, as you 
know. He came to us five months ago with about as 
much education as one year at grammar school would 
give him. He knew no Latin at all, very little mathe- 
matics and wrote English — well, I'd like to show 
you one of his first compositions, but it wouldn’t be 
fair to him. I remember the dismay and indignation 
in which Mr. Jones came to a faculty meeting soon 
after the term started. It would take Benson two 
months of the hardest sort of work to catch up with the 
third class Latin, he declared, and he was all for hav- 
ing him dropped to the fourth. Mr. Logan, though, 
while he reported a similar condition regarding Ben- 
son’s mathematics, declared stoutly that the boy showed 
eagerness and application and that he deserved a fair 
256 


A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 

trial. In the end we decided to let him remain in the 
third. For my part, I feared that dropping him just 
then would prove disastrous, would impose just the 
added bit of discouragement that, like the proverbial 
straw, would break the camel’s back. So we let Benson 
alone and he worked out his own salvation. The next 
time I spoke to Mr. Jones about the boy he had changed 
his tune completely. * I was all wrong, Ledyard,’ he 
told me. 4 That boy has got what is better than knowl- 
edge ; he’s got the ability to learn ! ’ And he has 
learned. Look here.” 

The secretary pulled out a drawer in the cabinet be- 
side him and ran deftly through the cards filed therein. 
Then he took one out and laid it in front of Tom. 

44 That’s his May report, Hartley. We aren’t sup- 
posed to show these, but I want you to see because 
you’re as much interested in Benson as I am, I reckon. 
You needn’t mention having seen it. What do you 
think of those ratings? How is 69 in Latin for a boy 
who didn’t know there was such a language five months 
ago? And look at his mathematics. Of course 75 
isn’t high, but when you consider that there’s card 
after card in that drawer showing as low as 60 and 
65 for fellows who have been here two years, it’s pretty 
good. And 85 in history is fine, too. He’s going to 
pass safely in five out of seven studies, and I don’t be- 
257 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

lieve that the other two are going to be considered in 
his case.” 

Mr. Ledyard returned the report card to its place 
and closed the drawer with an air of triumph. 
“ Hartley, I don’t suppose you can understand the sat- 
isfaction we get from a case like Benson’s. It’s cases 
of the kind that make you think sometimes that you 
aren’t just wasting time at this sort of thing. Well, 
I’ve talked you to death. Is there anything I can do 
for you, Hartley? ” 

“ No, sir, thanks. I just had to see about an extra 
course that I took up in January and had to drop.” 

“ What was it? ” asked the secretary solicitously. 

“ First year Spanish, sir. I just didn’t have time 
for it, and it interfered with my other recitations 
twice a week. But I stuck it out four months and I 
won’t have to go back to it until the final term next 
year.” 

“ Oh, well, that’s no harm. Rather courageous of 
you to try it, I’d say. By the way, in case I don’t 
have another opportunity to speak of it, my boy, I 
want to thank you on my behalf and the faculty’s for 
your interest and efforts in Benson’s behalf. We all 
appreciate it, Hartley. We’ve watched events and 
we’ve liked what you’ve done, and we want you to know 
it.” 


258 


A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 


To Mr. Ledyard’s surprise this announcement of 
gratitude was met by Tom with an amused chuckle. 
Then, seeing the expression of amazement on the sec- 
retary^ face, Tom made a hurried and embarrassed 
apology. 

“ I beg your pardon, sir,” said Tom. “I — it’s 
nice of you to say that and feel that way, sir, mighty 
nice, only it — well, it sort of struck me funny, Mr. 
Ledyard ! ” 

“ How so?” 

“ Well, I don’t know that I can explain exactly,” 
replied Tom. “ Of course I did try to help Jerry 
every way I could, and maybe I sort of made things a 
bit easier for him, but I guess the real truth is that he 
didn’t need nearly so much help as we thought, sir. 
And looking back on the whole business, it seems to 
me that Jerry’s done more for me than I’ve done for 
him ! ” 

“ You’re thinking of the time he got you out of 
the mine hole? Well, of course, that was very plucky, 
but I was referring rather to moral aid than physical, 
Hartley.” 

“ So am I, sir. I guess I can’t lay my finger, as 
you’d say, on any one thing to — to illustrate what 
I mean, Mr. Ledyard, but Jerry’s been a kind of an in- 
spiration to me, sir. He’s so mighty straightforward 
259 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


and clean-cut about everything. He’s the sort that 
seems to see at once what has to be done and just goes 
ahead and does it. He never straddles anything, if 
you see what I mean.” Tom paused doubtfully, but 
the secretary nodded. 

“ I think I do see, Hartley. There’s a good deal of 
the primitive in Benson. He sees right and wrong, 
for instance, as two well-defined objects. There’s no 
middle object, no blurring of the two, for him. Isn’t 
that about what you mean? ” 

“Yes, sir, and it isn’t only regarding right and 
wrong. The same thing applies to everything he does. 
Why, even when he plays baseball you see it. When 
he goes to bat he has just one idea in his head, and 
that’s to hit the ball as hard as he can hit it and make 
it go as far as he can. Of course, every fellow is like 
that more or less, but Jerry’s more! And I guess 
that’s why he most always gets a hit. That’s one thing 
I’ve learned from him — or maybe I ought to 
say learning; to go after a thing straight and get 
it, and not — not do a half-dozen other things on the 
way.” 

“ An excellent plan, Hartley,” said the secretary. 

“ Another thing is that Jerry’s mighty fair and — 
and kind-hearted,” resumed Tom thoughtfully. “I 
don’t suppose you knew anything about it, sir, but 
260 


A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 

Wayne Sortwell and I never pulled it off very well to- 
gether.” 

Mr. Ledyard shook his head encouragingly. 

“ There wasn’t anything real between us,” said Tom 
a bit sheepishly. “We — we just got an idea, each 
of us, that the other fellow was no good.” Tom paused 
to smile and shake his head in a slightly puzzled way. 
“ It was funny, I guess we detested each other about 
as thoroughly as any two fellows could, and we’d 
never spoken a dozen words! Then, lately, Jerry got 
it into his head that we ought to make up and be friends. 
So he — he — well, he just went ahead and did 
it! We didn’t either of us know he was doing it, 
either, I guess. You see, sir, Jerry’s idea is that you 
can’t dislike any one. He says that if some one wrongs 
you you must punch his head or let him punch yours 
and after that you’re all square and can start over 
again! ” 

Mr. Ledyard laughed joyfully. “ Hartley, that’s 
what I call a practical application of the Golden Rule, 
the Golden Rule established at last on a working basis ! 
Why, if we’d all follow that plan — ” he hesitated and 
Tom added slyly: 

“Thered be a lot of scrapping!” 

Mr, Ledyard chuckled. “ I reckon there would, 
261 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


but there’d be a heap less growling and backbiting. It's 
good philosophy, Hartley ! ” 

“ Yes, sir, I guess it is. Well, that's why I — 
why I grinned when you thanked me for looking after 
Jerry, sir. I didn’t mean to be impertinent. I just 
couldn’t help it, because it struck me all of a heap just 
then that the boot was on the other leg and I ought 
to thank Jerry instead of being thanked by you! ” 

. “ I reckon it’s been mutual, Hartley,” responded 
Mr. Ledyard smilingly. “ Anyhow, I’m not going to 
retract my expressions of appreciation. If Jerry has 
helped you, you’ve certainly done well by him, and we 
all feel that way. And there’s my hand on it ! ” 
Spring athletic activities were now at their height 
at North Bank. The track team had worked to a con- 
dition that promised supremacy over Cumbridge a few 
days later and the crews were showing the results of 
two months of hard work on the river. A few days 
before the first eight had held its own in a three-quar- 
ter-mile spurt with the Navy second crew and already 
had emerged victor from a three-cornered event with; 
Bayside and West Shore. Lory Browne was waiting 
impatiently for the real struggle with Cumbridge, cer- 
tain that this year’s crew was destined to repeat its 
last year’s triumph. 

The game on the Wednesday following the victory 
262 


A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 


over St. John’s was played with Friends’ School, in 
Baltimore, and Jerry didn’t make the trip. The squad 
that went was small, for an easy contest was predicted, 
and the services of the hard-hitting substitute fielder 
were dispensed with. As matters turned out, Jerry 
was badly needed, for Friends’ showed unexpected 
prowess and the game was won until the ninth inning, 
when a batting rally by the visitors brought them vic- 
tory by one run. 

The track meet with Cumbridge Hall was held the 
Saturday afternoon that the nine met the Navy 
“ Plebes ” at Annapolis, and so Jerry didn’t witness 
it. His regret was tinctured with resignation, how- 
ever, when, returning to North Bank, he learned that 
the Light Blue had met defeat by a bare six points. 
North Bank had won seven firsts but Cumbridge had 
more than made up by her capture of second, third 
and fourth places in numerous events. As for the 
ball game, it had been one-sided and uneventful, 
for Thacher had held the Plebes to three runs while 
Jackson, Pop Lord, McGee and Tom Hartley had 
each captured three hits and the visitors had literally 
run wild on the bases to a final tune of eleven runs. 
Jerry sat on the bench until the eighth inning, when 
Mr. Keegan began to use his substitutes. The game 
ended before his turn came at bat. 

263 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Final examinations began the next Monday and 
there were worried faces to be seen about school. Joe 
Kirkham dropped around at least once a day to confide 
to Jerry and Tom that he was absolutely certain to 
flunk. It always required a generous administration 
of sweet crackers or fudge to restore him to his wonted 
cheerfulness. In the end, since he did not flunk, the 
suspicion that Joe had designs on the larder of Number 
7 seems permissible. Neither Tom nor Jerry wor- 
ried much about finals. Tom was pretty certain of 
passing satisfactorily in everything, and Jerry — well, 
it wasn’t Jerry’s way to worry. He just buckled 
down harder than ever and worked instead of worry- 
ing. And the plan may be recommended, for Jerry 
went through finely, and, although he wasn’t an Honor 
Man, he deserved honor. 

One afternoon Jerry and Tom, Joe and Wayne fol- 
lowed the crowd and found a vantage point overlook- 
ing the river a mile from school and saw the light-blue- 
tipped oars of North Bank flash across the finish mark 
two lengths and a half ahead of the Cumbridge shell. 
It was a close and exciting race for most of the two 
miles, with Cumbridge getting the water first at the 
start and leading by a good length at the half-mile 
flag. After that the Light Blue, rowing a slower but 
steadier stroke, wore down the rival’s lead until, at 
264 


A VICTORY AND A DEFEAT 


the halfway flag, North Bank’s bow lapped the Cum- 
bridge boat. In such manner the shells covered the 
next quarter mile. Then Cumbridge, spurting, again 
opened water between her and the enemy and at the 
three-quarter mark was more than a length ahead. 
But that spurt seemed to have taken all she had, for 
when, a few moments later, North Bank hit her stroke 
up a couple of notches without sacrificing power or 
rhythm and began to overtake the Dark Blue, she had 
little left to offer. A faster clip showed raggedness, 
and there was a good deal of splashing at the bow. In 
the last quarter mile North Bank lapped and then, 
while the cheers rang out from the shore and from 
the boats along it, slipped remorselessly past. A hun- 
dred and fifty yards from the finish line there was again 
open water between the stem of the North Bank shell 
and the bow of the rival boat, and from then on the dis- 
tance widened, the Light Blue putting more power into 
her steady stroke as the end approached and the Dark 
Blue weakening and crossing the line far in the rear, 
with half of her men rowed out completely. 

North Bank found consolation in the victory for 
the track team’s defeat and a good augury for success 
on the diamond. The school celebrated quite riotously 
that evening at a mass meeting at which Captain 
Browne and his men were cheered to the echo. 


CHAPTER XXIII 
COACH KEEGAN CONVERSES 


WEEK before the first game of the Cum- 



bridge Hall series Coach Keegan began 


jL JL morning practice at the batting net. Final 
examinations, rigorous as they were, presented one 
advantage: they offered much spare time which, un- 
less one needed to use it in preparation for the subse- 
quent ordeal, could be profitably spent in exercise. As 
a rule only two or three players appeared at the field 
together, but in the course of the forenoon all the mem- 
bers of the team managed to get in a half hour or 
more of work. 

One morning Jerry appeared at the field when only 
Coach Keegan was on hand. The latter was sitting 
on the bench in the early sunlight, hands thrust into 
the pockets of a disreputable brown sweater and his 
gaze fixed peacefully on the toes of his scarred shoes. 
In that attitude he was something of a surprise to 
Jerry, for never before had the boy seen the coach 
really quiet ! Observing that, although bats and other 


266 


COACH KEEGAN CONYERSES 


paraphernalia lay ready near the batting net, none of 
the pitchers were there, Jerry was minded to turn back 
or wander on towards the road. But at that moment 
Mr. Keegan glanced up and saw him and so Jerry kept 
on. 

“ Have to wait awhile, Benson,” said Mr. Keegan. 
“ Train was to be here, but he hasn’t shown up. Guess 
he will be along soon, though. Sit down. How are 
you getting on with exams ? ” 

“ Right well, I reckon,” answered Jerry. “ I mean 
I reckon I’ll pass all right. ’Course I haven’t been 
here very long and I ain’t — haven’t got started yet, 
as you might s'ay.” 

“ You entered in January, didn’t you?” 

“ Yes, sir. You see, Pap couldn’t get any one to 
take my place in the store back home and so I couldn’t 
come no — - any sooner.” 

“Your father has a store? Where do you live, 
Benson ? ” 

“ Huckinsburg, North Carolina. ’Tain’t my 
father, though, has the store. I ain’t got any father. 
Pap Huckins, he took me when I was a little feller and 
looked after me.” 

“ I see. Like it here at North Bank? ” 

“ Yes, sir, I like it mighty well. There’s a right 
fine lot of fellers here, Mr. Keegan.” 

267 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Yes, that’s true. Where did you learn to play 
baseball, Benson ? ” 

“ Right here, sir, I reckon. I didn’t know much 
about it before I come — came here. Course I’d 
played at it, like. We fellers at home had a team and 
we’d visit around and play other teams, but we didn’t 
go in much for fancy doings. Just hitting the ball and 
running around the bases was about all we did, and 
the fellers that pitched didn’t know anything about 
‘ hooks ’ and ‘ drops ’ and so on. They were pretty 
easy and I got so’s I could lambaste the ball pretty 
hard.” 

“ Well, it’s stood you in good stead, son. You’re 
certainly hitting with a wallop now. I understand the 
fellows have dubbed you ‘ Three-Base Benson.’ ” 

Jerry smiled. “ Yes, sir, I reckon they have. 
Seems like I can’t hit anything but three-baggers — 
that is, when I do hit.” 

“ Which is pretty frequently,” remarked the coach, 
dryly. “ You may have noticed, Benson, that I’ve 
never insisted on your learning to bunt. And I’ve let 
you keep your own style of batting. It isn’t quite the 
style we aim at here, but I was pretty certain that if I 
tried to teach you our way you’d make a mess of it. 
And I didn’t want to ruin a good free hitter by trying 
to teach him to cramp his bat. There are others who 
268 


COACH KEEGAN CONVERSES 


can lay down a bunt or crack a nice little base hit, Ben- 
son, and so I’ve let you alone and you’ve developed 
just as I expected you would and wanted you to. 
You’ve got a fine eye for the ball and a mighty good 
wallop, and when you hit them they travel, son. Don’t 
you worry because they’re always three-baggers. I 
don’t!” 

“ No, sir, I won’t,” agreed Jerry gravely. “ Reckon 
I might just as well keep on specializing, Mr. Keegan.” 

“ Right! You keep on specializing on three-base 
hits, Benson, and you’ll do finely,” laughed the coach. 
“ I’d like to have a couple more specialists on the team ! 
How do you like playing center field ? ” 

“ Fine, sir. Sometimes it gets sort of tiresome 
standing around out there and not doing much, but I 
reckon when we play Cumbridge there’ll be more action. 
Course, I ain’t expecting I’ll play in them — those 
games, sir, but whoever does’ll be kept busy, likely.” 

“ Maybe, though, if our pitchers work the way they 
should there won’t be much hitting, I guess. And I 
think you can count on playing in center in one of 
those games, Benson. You’ve tried hard and you’ve 
learned a lot of ball in a short time and I appreciate it, 
son. And I’ll see that you get your chance. When 
you do get it, see that you stand by me, Benson, and 
come through with the wallop ! ” 

269 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“Yes, sir,” replied Jerry earnestly and gratefully. 
" I’m aiming to do the best I can.” 

“ I’m sure of it, Benson. You saved that St. John’s 
game, I guess, and you may have a chance to save an- 
other before we’re through with Cumbridge. Here 
comes Train and a couple of the fellows. Now we’ll 
get to work. By the way, that Cumbridge pitcher, 
Tanner, uses a slow ball with a lot of stuff on it, and 
I’m going to get Train to imitate it the best he can so 
you fellows will know it when you see it. You want 
to be careful not to hit too soon at it, Benson.” 

Four days later Coach Keegan’s foresight counted 
heavily in the result of the first game with the Dark 
Blue at Holly, for Tanner, Cumbridge’s first-choice 
twirler, pitched the contest through to the bitter end 
and that slow ball of his, which could either drop 
mysteriously out of the way of a swinging bat or hook 
out in a truly surprising manner, would have proved 
far more deadly had not the visiting team learned 
something of it beforehand. The whole school ac- 
companied the nine to Holly and witnessed a remark- 
able game of ball that went to fourteen innings and 
resulted in a 3 to 3 tie. 

A pitchers’ battle from start to finish, with Jack 
Grinnel opposing the lanky Tanner, the game had few 
stirring moments, perhaps, but never once lacked in 
270 


COACH KEEGAN CONVERSES 

the kind of suspense that keeps the players keyed up to 
the top notch of efficiency and the spectators on the 
edges of their seats. All the scoring came in the first 
three innings, and after that, until the limit of time 
was reached that would allow the visitors to get the 
train back to North Bank, it became a test of endur- 
ance with the contest certain to go against the team 
that “ cracked ” first. Perhaps had the game gone to 
another inning the “ crack ” might have come, but as 
it was, although both Tanner and Grinnel had their 
weak moments when it seemed to their anxious ad- 
herents that the deluge was about due, both pitchers 
came through in triumph, Tanner with a record of 
nine strike-outs and Grinnel with seven. Each pitcher 
issued four passes and each hit two men with the ball. 
Sharp fielding did the rest. North Bank secured first 
blood in the second inning when Jackson led out with 
a scratch hit, Lord sacrificed him to second and McGee, 
after Conway had been thrown out, hit past third. 
In the last half of the same inning Cumbridge took the 
lead. Jack Grinnel passed the first man up. He 
struck out the next two, but couldn't keep the runner 
on first, and two hits in succession, the latter for three 
bases and followed by a wild throw to third by Con- 
way, gave the enemy three tallies. In the next inning 
North Bank, by a combination of two one-base hits, 
271 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


a pass and two infield errors, tied the score. And 
that ended the game, although no one guessed it. 
After that what hits there were, were short and well 
sprinkled over the remaining eleven innings and only 
one man reached second base. The Light Blue made 
eleven hits off Tanner, only one of the extra-bases 
sort, and the Dark Blue got eight off Grinnel, one a 
three-bagger and one good for two bases. North 
Bank made four errors and Cumbridge three. And 
in such disappointingly indecisive fashion ended the 
first game of the big series, and North Bank took the 
train and departed in a downcast mood. But before 
school was reached the fellows had considerably 
cheered up, for some one had sagely pointed out the 
fact that all the Light Blue had to do was to win next 
Wednesday’s game in order to capture the series and 
the season’s championship. And even Jerry, who had 
never a look-in that afternoon, found life suddenly 
much brighter. 

That night, in Number 7 Baldwin, Pop Lord and 
Wayne and Tom and Tub Keller looked the situation 
in the face and found much that was encouraging. 

“We ought to be mighty glad we didn’t get licked,” 
declared Captain Lord. “ As it is, if we win Wednes- 
day, to-day’s game is as good as a victory, for the series 
goes to the team winning the first two games.’ ’ 

272 


COACH KEEGAN CONVERSES 


“ But we shan’t have won two games,” objected Tom. 

“ It amounts to the same thing, Tom. I talked with 
Keegan and he says so. Says the same thing hap- 
pened four years ago, only the second game was tied 
instead of the first. We played them at Holly and 
they won and took the series. And that’s what we’ve 
got to do Wednesday.” 

“ They won’t start Tanner again, either, I reckon,” 
said Tub. “ And that other pitcher of theirs, 
Thorogood ” 

“ What’s his name?” demanded Wayne Sortwell. 

“ Thorogood. And he is good, but he isn’t in Tan- 
ner’s class, and I’ll bet we can hit him.” 

“ Yes, but we’ll have to use Thacher,” said Tom. 
“ Keep that in mind, old son.” 

“ What of it? Look at the records of the two. 
Thacher has won as many games as Jack Grinnel ” 

“ He’s pitched oftener, you chump ! ” 

“ Never mind, he’s all right. I know, too, for I’ve 
caught them both all season. Don’t you worry about 
Hal. Besides, if he wobbles, Jack will be ready to 
take his place. If we can hit Thorogood, fellows, we’ll 
cop the prize.” 

“If!” muttered Wayne. “There’s a whole lot in 
an ‘if’!” 

Pop Lord laughed. “ Keep your head up, Wayne! 
273 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


We’re going to do it ! Remember we’ll be on our own 
grounds, with our own crowd behind us.” 

The visitors had gone when Jerry returned from The 
Cabin that night. Tom, in pajamas, was stretched 
on his bed, propped by all the pillows he could find, 
writing a letter home. “ Well,” he greeted, “ did you 
have another successful society function at The 
Cabin?” 

Jerry flopped tiredly into a chair, stretched his long 
legs in front of him and nodded. “ Yes, I reckon so. 
They all seemed to like it. I’m powerful tired, though. 
Andrews brought out two extra fellers and we went 
short of eggs.” 

“ Going short of eggs does make one tired,” agreed 
Tom gravely. 

Jerry grinned and shied his cap across the table. It 
landed on Tom’s chest and Tom removed it delicately 
with the tips of his fingers and dropped it to the floor. 
“ Ugh,” he muttered, “ it smells of fried ham ! ” 

“ What you doing?” asked Jerry wearily. 

“ Writing to dad. There’s something about you 
here, but I won’t tell you what it is. You might get 
a swelled head.” 

“ I ain’t wrote to Pap for more’n a week,” said 
Jerry dejectedly. After a minute or two he inter- 
rupted the busy scratching of Tom’s pen. “Tom!” 

274 


COACH KEEGAN CONVERSES 


“ Yeh? ” 

“ Why you reckon Mr. Keegan didn’t let me play 
any to-day ? ” 

Tom poised his fountain pen in air and frowned in- 
tently at it a moment before replying. Then: “Why, 
I figure it out this way, Jerry,” he said. “ Keegan 
felt a lot like a fellow walking along the top of a fence. 
Just as long as he keeps going he’s all right. But if 
he stops to take a breath or change his feet or any- 
thing, over .he goes ! That game got to be mighty 
tiddly toward the end. Of course, if Keegan had run 
in some new chaps in the ninth, say, we might have 
broken through Cumbridge’s defense and copped a run 
or two, but on the other hand it might have worked 
the other way. To put new men in Keegan would 
have had to take others out and that might have broken 
the charm. You see, along toward; the last of it 
about all he was hoping for was an even break, for 
Grinnel was getting pretty tuckered.” 

Jerry nodded relie vedly. “I thought maybe he 
reckoned I wasn’t good enough,” he said. “If that’s 
the way it was I don’t mind.” 

“ Well, that’s the way it was, boy,” answered Tom 
cheerfully. “ By the way, you and Keegan were hav- 
ing a lot to say to each other going over on the train. 
Getting quite thick, aren’t you ? ” 

275 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


“ Reckon I might as well tell you about that,” re- 
plied Jerry after a moment's hesitation. “ You see. 
Joke was saying awhile back that the fellers on the 
team always had a sort of a — a banquet the night 
of the game." 

" I see. You were asking Keegan to let you have 
his ice cream if he didn’t want it! " 

“ And I thought," continued the other, “ it might 

— they might like to come out to The Cabin and have 
it there." 

“ By Jove! Corking scheme, Jerry! What did 
Keegan say? " 

" He said he’d fix it for them to do it." 

“ But, gosh, there’ll be a regular mob ! ’’ 

“ Sixteen, he said, counting him. Cicero’s going to 
make two trips each way. He and I are going out 
an hour ahead and start things." 

“ Cicero?" 

“ Mr. Keegan. He says he can cook. I didn't 
want he should, but he said he’d like it. And, of 
course, with sixteen meals to get I’ll have to have help." 

“ I should say so ! Jerry, that’s a bully scheme, 
boy ! And you’ll make a nice little bunch of money, too." 

“ No," answered Jerry, “ I ain’t aiming to make no 

— any money on it, Tom. You see, I — I’m sort of 
giving the party." 


CHAPTER XXIV 
JERRY LOSES HIS TITLE 

S AVE for the substitution of Royce for McGee 
on second, and of Thacher for Grinnel as 
pitcher. North Bank went into the second Cum- 
bridge Hall game with the same team that had played 
before. McGee had a bad leg as a result of trying to 
block a runner in Monday's practice game. His in- 
jury was not serious and there was no question of his 
ability to play should Royce not prove satisfactory. 
Jerry's secret hope of getting in at center field was 
blighted when manager Birkenside read out the batting 
order. Ted Beech was again slated for the position 
and Jerry joined the benchwarmers, disappointed but 
uncomplaining. 

Cumbridge had brought along a goodly proportion 
of her students and one whole section of the third 
base stand was vivid with dark-blue banners. Across 
the diamond, the North Bank color showed more pro- 
fusely if less brilliantly and North Bank cheers were 
incessant as the warming up ended and the two rivals 
took their places, Cumbridge at bat and the Light Blue 
277 


THREE-BASE BENSON 

in the field. Thacher threw in five wild ones to Tub 
Keller, the umpire called play and the first Cumbridge 
batsman took his place. 

Hal Thacher caused his friends a lot of uneasiness 
that first inning, for he appeared to be suffering from 
stage fright and had much difficulty in finding the 
plate. He passed the first man up and put himself 
promptly in a hole with the second. Fortunately the 
latter, when he did hit, knocked out an easy fly to short 
left that Wayne Sortwell captured easily. Again 
Thacher pitched four balls and there were two on. 
Cumbridge cheered and shouted and stamped hopefully. 
In an effort to catch the runner on second napping, 
Thacher wheeled and pegged hurriedly to Jackson 
and the ball slammed into the dust and trickled into 
the field. Before it was retrieved the runner had slid 
to third. A moment later the man on first took second 
without challenge. With but one gone and men on 
third and second, the outlook seemed far from rosy 
for the home team, but Thacher settled down long 
enough to strike out the fourth batsman, and then, 
when the next man hit a weak one to the infield, to get 
the ball ahead of Royce and slam it to Keller at the 
plate in time for a put-out. 

Thorogood, like Thacher, began with a bad inn- 
ing, but, as in the other’s case, escaped punishment. 

278 


JERRY LOSES HIS TITLE 


Jackson was hit in the ribs and took his base, Lord hit 
safely for one and Conway died out to shortstop. 
Royce was passed, advancing the runners and filling 
the sacks, but Tom Hartley fanned and Wayne Sort- 
well was an easy third out, second to first. After that 
the contest proceeded uneventfully to the fifth inning. 
Both Thacher and Thorogood had found their stride 
and hits were scarce and runs entirely missing. In 
the fourth Conway reached third with two out and died 
there when Royce fouled out to catcher, and that was as 
near to a score as either team got in the first half of the 
game. 

The fifth opened with Cumbridge’s hard-hitting 
left fielder at bat, and that youth, a canny judge of 
balls, waited until Thacher had to offer him some- 
thing reasonable. And when he did he laced it into 
far center for three bases. That punishment seemed 
to grieve the Light Blue’s pitcher so that he had no 
heart for his work in the succeeding five minutes, with 
the result that two more singles were added to Cum- 
bridge’s column and two runs came across. A fine 
double play by Jackson and Lord stopped the visitors. 

North Bank went out in one, two, three order in her 
half of the inning, but in the sixth after holding the 
enemy she brought delight and confidence to her ad- 
herents by scoring her first tally. This came as the 
279 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


result of a pass to Tub Keller, followed by a nice sac- , 
rifice fly by Thacher that placed Tub on second. Jack- 
son fanned and then Pop Lord found something he 
liked and slammed it through the pitcher’s box and 
Tub scored. Lord went out a moment later in an ill- 
advised attempt to steal second. 

There was no scoring in the seventh by either side, 
although Cumbridge got men on second and first be- 
fore a batting rally was nipped by some fine pitching. 
That inning witnessed the replacement of Beech in 
center field by Jerry Benson and the return to his po- 
sition in the infield of McGee as a result of loose play- 
ing on the part of the hard-working but inexperienced 
Royce. For Cumbridge just four men faced the 
pitcher in the seventh. 

For North Bank, Conway started things with a bunt 
that placed him on first by a hair’s breadth. The 
umpire’s decision brought loud criticism from the vis- 
itors, but, since he was ten feet from the base and they 
at the other side of the diamond, it is fair to assume 
that he was in a better position to judge the play. At 
all events, that decision brought North Bank her tying 
run. McGee’s attempt to sacrifice resulted in his re- 
tirement, the ball dropping softly into second base- 
man’s hands. Jerry, amidst joyful acclaim from the 
Light Blue, faced Thorogood with a calm and earnest 
280 


JERRY LOSES HIS TITLE 


expression and set his feet in their accustomed straddle. 
The outfielders, at the command of the shortstop, who 
was also Cumbridge’s captain, wandered further back- 
ward. Thorogood had heard of Jerry, as had his 
catcher, and, while the Light Blue’s rooters expressed 
dissatisfaction in numerous ways, the catcher stepped 
to the right and Thorogood threw out to him. There 
was no question of reaching any of those balls and 
Jerry had to stand there helpless until four of them had 
drifted past and the umpire motioned him to his base. 
For Jerry that was a heartbreaking and degrading ex- 
perience, and he ambled to first with drooping head 
quite as though he were personally responsible for what 
had occurred. 

It was left to Tom Hartley to deliver the hit that 
would bring Conway home and place Jerry on second, 
and Tom delivered it nicely in the shape of a screaming 
single just out of shortstop’s reach. But that ended 
the scoring in the inning, for Wayne Sortwell struck 
out and Keller lifted a fly to right field that retired the 
side. 

There was no scoring in the eighth. For that mat- 
ter, no one reached first base for either team. The 
rival pitchers were going strong again and two strike- 
outs fell to each. 

The ninth started with the head of Cumbridge’s bat- 
281 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


ting list -up. With one man out, a fly to short left 
eluded Sortwell and the runner, taking a desperate 
chance, went on to second and slid under McGee’s arm 
just as the latter swooped around with the ball. That, 
too, was a questionable decision, perhaps, in which 
case it evened up for the former one. When the dust 
had settled Thacher tried hard to strike out the Dark 
Blue’s captain. But, with two strikes on him and one 
ball, Jensen caught a hook on the tip of his bat and 
arched it nicely out of the infield just where no one, 
lacking wings, could possibly get under it. Captain 
Lord and McGee both tried for it, and Conway came 
in from right at top speed, but the ball fell safely to 
earth and the runner on second took third and was 
only prevented from going home by quick action on 
Lord’s part. As it was, he scuttled back to his base 
and was glad to reach it again. Jensen went to second 
on the first delivery. With men on third and second 
and but one out, North Bank’s chance to pull out safely 
looked very dim. But when, a few minutes later, the 
next batsman had hit weakly to shortstop and Jackson, 
after holding the runners, delivered the ball to Lord in 
the nick of time, the home team’s stock advanced 
many points. And presently the suspense was over, 
for, after knocking two fouls into the right field stand, 
the Cumbridge first baseman drove the ball straight at 
282 


JERRY LOSES HIS TITLE 


Lord s head and Pop, more than half in self-defense, 
put up his hands and it stuck there ! 

“ Another tie game!” was the prediction of many 
in the stands as the teams changed places for the last 
half of the ninth inning. But on the North Bank 
bench that belief didn’t hold. “ Go after them, fel- 
lows,” said Captain Lord earnestly, and “ Let’s take 
this game now,” said the coach quietly. “ Don’t let 
him fool you, boys. Make him pitch to you. You 
know what to do, Conway. Let’s have it ! ” 

“ Conway up ! ” called Birkenside. “McGee on 
deck ! Smash it, Dud ! ” 

Yet, although Conway twice tried his hardest to lay 
down a bunt that would allow his fast legs to take him 
to first ahead of the throw, he failed, and, with two 
strikes and two balls against him, the best he could do 
was a weak grounder that was easily fielded by the third 
baseman and pegged to first ahead of the batsman. 
The North Bank cheers, which had dwindled away 
with the cheerers’ trust in Dud, began again as McGee 
strode to the plate. But McGee repeated Conway’s 
fizzle with the first pitched ball ! Again third pegged 
unhurriedly to first for the out. Cumbridge yelled 
wildly and triumphantly. Many less interested specta- 
tors were already dribbling toward the gate, sensing 
an extra-inning contest that would drag along in- 
283 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


terminably without a decision. But North Bank was i 
cheering again now, undismayedly, even with a new 
note of fervor, not only cheering but chanting! And 
the chant was this : 

“ Benson ! Benson! Three-Base Benson! Benson! 
Benson! Three-Base Benson! ” 

“If he can deliver one of those wallops of his,’’ 1 
muttered Lord hopefully to Coach Keegan, “ and get 
to third I’ll bet Hartley can bring him the rest of the 
way ! ” 

“ He will, I guess, if that pitcher will give him a 
chance,” was the reply. “If he knows his business, ] 
though, he will pass him, as he did before.” 

But with two out, the bases empty and a tired arm 
at his side, Thorogood shook his head at the catcher’s 
signal for a throw out. He wanted to end the in- 
ning. He didn’t believe altogether in Benson’s ability 
as a hard hitter and felt fairly certain that, if he 
couldn’t dispose of him on strikes, he could make him 
hit a fly to the outfield. 

Jerry, eying Thorogood anxiously, heaved a great 
sigh of relief as the first delivery, instead of passing 
wide of the plate, developed into a drop. In fact, he 
was so relieved that he didn’t even offer at it, nor show 
surprise or resentment when the umpire called it a 
strike. Instead, he grinned slightly, with his eyes more 
284 


JERKY LOSES HIS TITLE 


than his mouth, took a firmer grip on his bat, spread 
his legs by another inch and waited. The cheers from 
the right field stand were continuous, designed, I fear, 
as much to discourage the pitcher as to encourage 
Jerry. 

Another delivery went past, this time a palpable ball, 
wide of the plate. Then Thorogood tried another 
drop. It had worked before, so why not again? 
Jerry watched the wind up, watched the ball start from 
the pitcher’s hand, watched it speed toward him like 

a gray-white streak, watched it No, he didn't 

watch it after that, for he had dropped his bat and was 
racing to first! 

About him arose a thunder of shrill paeans of joy 
that, as he swung around first, dwindled to something 
approaching silence. But in another instant the shout- 
ing grew again, for far out on the green expanse of 
sunlit center fielder and right fielder had turned and 
were running back as fast as their legs would carry 
them ! And around the bases went Jerry, past second 
and on to third, and would have stopped there in con- 
formity to long custom had not Jackson waved and 
shouted him onward. 

“ Go on, Jerry! ” roared Andy. “ Go on, you idiot! 
It’s a home run!” 


28 5 


THREE-BASE BENSON 


Some three and a half hours later Pop Lord arose 
at his place around the improvised table at The Cabin 
and held his tin cup aloft. They had eaten and sung 
and cheered and eaten more, those sixteen very happy 
banqueters, and now replete and comfortably weary, 
they had demanded a speech from the retiring cap- 
tain. 

“ Fellows,” responded Pop, “ and Coach Keegan. 
Pm a heap too tired to make a speech. I would if 
I could, but you’ll just have to excuse me, I reckon. 
All Fve got to say is this. I’m mighty happy. And 
I’m mighty grateful to you fellows for the way you’ve 
worked with me to make this evening one of the j oiliest 
of my short life. And I want to thank our host, on my 
behalf and on yours, for the corking feed he’s given 
us. After what he did this afternoon this banquet is 
laying it on, fellows, and we’re pikers if we don’t say 
so. So here’s a toast.” Pop waved his coffee cup in 

air. “ To ‘ Three-Base ’ Benson ” 

He stopped short and shook his head. 

“ That won’t do! To ‘ Home-Run Benson,’ best of 
hitters and finest of hosts! Let’s hear it! ” 

And he did hear it. And so did Jerry, who, shorn 
of his title, nevertheless looked strangely content and 
happy. 

THE END 


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